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CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Al  raham  Lincoln, 5 

Lincoln  is  made  President,       .        .        .        .'...-.  12 

Fort  Sumter  (Illustration),        ....*....  14 

Fort  Sumter, >     .        .  15 

Passing  Through  Baltimore  ( Illustration  j, 20 

The  First  Bloodshed, 21 

Federal  H;;                  .                  22 

The  Confederate  States, 2G 

Young  Colonel  Ellsworth,          .         .         .         .        .        .        .        .  29 

Contrabands,      .        .         .        .         .                                  ....  30 

Slaves  Escaping  to  Union  Troops  (Illustration),       .        .        .         .  32 

The  Contraband  of  Port  Royal  (Words  and  Music),        .        .        .  34 

A  Negro's  Answer,     .        .         . .  36 

"Big  Bethel"  and  "  Little  Bethel," 37 

Bethel  (Poetry), 38 

Dixie  Land  and  John  Brown's  Body,         ......  39 

The  Battle  Cry  of  Freedom  (Words  and  Music),       ....  40 

Battle  of  Bull  Run,                      , 41 

Eddy,  The  Drummer  Boy,           .         , 44 

Tenting  on  the  Old  Camp  Ground  (Words  and  Music),    ...  47 

Sea-Island  Cotton  Plantation,    . 48 

The  Picket  Guard  (Poetry), 49 

"The  Sea  Islands,"     .        .        .                .        .        '.        .        .        .  51 

Seizure  of  Mason  and  Slidell,     .        .        ;        .        .        .        .        .  52 

The  Merrimac  and  the  Monitor,         .  54 


4  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

The  Last  Broadside  (Poetry), 57 

Battle  of  Mill  Spring, 59 

A  Brave  Boy  at  Fort  Henry,       . .59 

Taking  of  Donelson 60 

A  Plucky  Boy  at  Fort  Donelson, 63 

The  Battle  of  Shiloh, 64 

The  Old  Sergeant  (  Poetry} , 67 

Brother  against  Brother 72 

Quaker  Guns,       ...........         73 

Dark  Days, 75 

The  Song  of  the  Camps, 77 

Lee  is  Kept  from  Entering  Pennsylvania,        .....         78 

The  Battle  of  Antietam  (Illustration), 79 

Barbara  Frietchie  (Poetry),        .        .         .         .        .         .         .         .         81 

Barbara  Frietchie  (Illustration), 82 

The  Virginia  Army, 84 

Capture  of  New  Orleans, 86 

Secession  Women,       ..........         91 

The  Mock  Funeral, 93 

Affairs  in  the  West, 95 

Sharp-Shooters,  .         .         .        .        .        .  .        .        .        98 

Stealing  Potatoes,       .        .        .        .        ,~      .        .        .         .         .100 

Joe  Parsons,        .        . «         .      102 

The  Home  Side  of  the  War  Picture, 103 

Lillie's  Five-dollar  Gold  Piece, .105 

What  Some  Poor  People  Did  for  the  Soldiers,        ....       107 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation,        .         .        .        .        .        .        .110 

Negro  Song  and  Music, •        .        .115 

First  Negro  Regiment, .        .116 

Siege  of  Vicksburg,    ....        0        .         o         ...       118 
"  Stonewall  Jackson "  is  Killed,        .......      122 

Story  of  Stonewall  Jackson, 124 

Battle  of  Gettysburg,  .         .        .        .        .        .        .125 

Battle  of  Gettysburg  (Illustration) , 126 


CONTENTS.  5 

PAGE. 

John  Burns  ;  Jenny  Wade, 130 

"Drafting," , 132 

Attack  on  Charleston, 134 

The  Guerillas,            .         ; 138 

Battle  in  the  Valley  of  Chickamauga,      ......  140 

Johnny  Clem, 142 

"  Battle  in  the  Clouds,"    .........  143 

Libby  Prison, 147 

Tramp!  Tramp!  Tramp!  (Poetry'),           ......  150 

Old  Virginia, 150 

On  to  Richmond ! ....  151 

Sheridan's  Ride  (Poetry) 157 

Sheridan  Turning  the  Tide  of  Battle, 158 

Evacuation  of  Richmond,    .         .         .              .         .         .         .         .  101 

From  Atlanta  to  the  Sea  (  Words  and  .V^.s/r),          ....  105 

On  to  Atlanta, 100 

Torpedoes,         ...........  170 

Signals,     .         ...         * 171 

The  War  is  Over,      .         .         .        ; 172 

When  Johnny  comes  Marching  Home  (  Words  and  .J/>/.s?V),     .         .  170 

Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic  (Words  and  Music),          i         .         .  177 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

IV. 

THE    CIVIL   WAR. 


BRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  the  President  during  this 
dark  time  in  our  nation's  history, —  the  Civil  War. 

He  was  not  a  handsome  man,  not  an  educated  man,  not  a 
society-mannered  man ;  but  a  more  honest,  more  loyal- 
hearted,  more  grand-souled  man  than  Abraham  Lincoln, 
never  stood  at  the  head  of  our  government.  He  was  as 
honest  as  George  Washington,  as  sturdy  as  Andrew  Jackson, 
as  brave  as  the  bravest  General,  and,  in  the  end,  as  noble  as 
the  noblest  martyr. 

He  had  had  a  hard  life  as  a  boy.  He  had  been  brought 
up  on  a  Kentucky  farm,  where  he  had  learned  to  hoe  and  to 

5 


C  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

plant,  to  drive  oxen,  to  build  log-houses,  to  split  rails,  to 
fell  trees ;  —  everything  that  a  farmer  boy  away  out  in  a 
new  country  would  have  to  do,  this  boy  had  done.  Indeed, 
when  he  was  named  for  President  by  the  Republican  party, 
the  opposing  parties  sneered  at  him,  calling  him  a  "  vulgar 
rail  -splitter,' '  <f  an  ignorant  boor,  unfit  for  the  society  of 
gentlemen." 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  HOUSE  IN  ILLINOIS. 

But  for  all  his  hoeing  and  his  rail- splitting,  for  all  his 
poverty  and  his  hard  labor,  for  all  his  rough  home  and  his 
common  companions,  Abraham  Lincoln  soon  proved  that  he 
had  a  something  in  his  head  and  in  his  heart  that  any  gentle 
man  might  well  have  been  proud  to  own  —  a  something  that 
a  world  of  fine  houses  and  fine  clothes  could  not  buy  — 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  7 

something  which,  by  and  by,  prompted  him  to  set  all  the 
poor  black  men  and  women  free. 

Although  Abraham  Lincoln  did  live  in  the  backwoods, 
and  did  not  go  to  school,  nevertheless,  he  was  all  this  time 
in  the  best  of  society.  Fortunately  for  him,  his  mother  was 
a  real  lady  in  heart,  and  tried  always  to  keep  her  boy  from 
growing  up  a  coarse,  ignorant  "  rail-splitter,"  as  his  party 
opponents  called  him.  She  taught  him  always  to  keep  his 
eyes  open,  and  his  thoughts  awake  to  the  beauties  about 
him  in  nature.  She  taught  him  that  it  was  a  noble  heart 
that  could  see  God  in  the  beautiful  flowers,  in  the  birds,  in 
the  fields,  in  the  forests,  and  in  the  waters ;  that  it  was  the 
artist's  soul  that  loved  to  watch  the  beautiful  sunset  lights 
and  the  deepening  shadows ;  she  taught  him  to  read  the  few 
books  that  she  owned,  and  helped  him  to  earn  a  few  more  ; 
she  encouraged  his  love  for  reading,  and  was  careful  that 
his  reading  was  always  of  the  best  kind. 

The  result  was,  that  when  Abraham  Lincoln  came  to  be 
President,  and  had  to  write  letters  and  make  speeches,  he 
always  had  the  very  best  style  of  English  at  his  command. 
When  he  said  a  thing,  it  was  so  simply  and  so  correctly 
said,  that  every  one  knew  just  what  he  meant.  And  behind 
his  words,  too,  there  was  always  his  big,  honest,  truthful 
heart.  Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  when,  by  and  by,  this 
good  man  died — shot  down  by  an  enemy  of  our  Union  — 
that  all  the  country  mourned  for  him,  and  felt  for  a  time  as 
if  no  one  could  be  fouad  to  fill  this  good,  great  man's  place. 


8  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

Here  is  what  a  good  woman  says  of  him :  * '  When 
Abraham  Lincoln  wrote  a  thing,  you  read  what  he  meant. 
The  meaning  was  not  covered  up  under  a  heap  of  useless 
words.  One  thing  was  apparent  in  him  from  boyhood. 
This  was  his  straightforward  truthfulness  and  sincerity  of 
purpose.  No  political  experience  ever  twisted  him ;  he 
ended  life  as  he  began  it,  an  honest,  sincere,  trustworthy 
man.  One  of  the  great  outcries  against  him  by  his  oppo 
nents  after  he  was  elected  was,  '  He  is  an  uncouth,  rough 
backwoodsman.  He  is  no  gentleman. ,5  It  is  true  that  he 
was  very  uncouth  in  face  and  figure  ;  never  handsome  to 
look  at,  although  the  soul  of  the  man  sometimes  shone 
through  the  plain  features  in  a  way  that  transfigured  them, 
and  his  deep  gray  eyes  were  full  of  a  great  sadness,  that 
seemed  almost  to  prophesy  his  tragic  fate.  He  had  not  the 
manners  of  a  court,  but  he  did  deeds  from  the  promptings 
of  a  simple,  manly  heart  that  a  king  might  have  been  proud 
to  own,  and  if  he  was  not  a  true  gentleman,  God  does  not 
make  any  now-a-days." 

When  the  Republicans  chose  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  South 
was  furious — not  because  they  had  chosen  Lincoln,  but 
because  they  had  chosen  any  one  at  all.  "  If  a  Republican 
President  is  elected,"  said  these  Southern  States,  "  we  will 
go  out  of  the  Union/' 

Now,  it  is  said  that  the  Southerners  really  were  in  hopes 
that  a  Republican  President  would  be  elected,  so  that  they 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  9 

might  have  an  excuse  for  leaving  the  Union.  "  We  will  go 
off  by  ourselves,"  said  one  of  the  Southern  leaders,  "  and 
build  up  a  government  of  our  own  ;  and  we  will  have  slavery 
for  its  very  corner  stone."  They  were  very  angrry,  these 
Southern  slave-holders  ;  for  one  reason,  because  they  were 
now  made  by  the  United  States  Government  to  pay  such 
high  prices  for  slaves.  One  slave-dealer  said,  he  wasn't 
going  to  pay  a  thousand  dollars  for  a  slaveln  Virginia,  when 
he  could  go  to  Africa  and  buy  better  ones  for  fifty  dollars  a 
head  !  What  do  you  think  of  a  business  that  employed 
agents  to  catch  colored  men  and  women  as  you  would  catch 
animals,  bring  them  into  market,  and  sell  them  at  a  price, 
according  to  their  size,  or  weight,  or  age,  or  strength  for 
work  ! 

We  ought  all  to  be  glad  that  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  at  last  came  to  its  senses,  and  made  all  the  States  give 
up  this  wicked  traffic. 

Lincoln  was  in  due  time  elected  President,  and  the 
Southern  States,  as  they  had  threatened,  declared  themselves 
no  longer  members  of  the  Union.  They  made  for  them 
selves  a  new  government,  put  Jefferson  Davis  at  its  head  as 
President,  and  called  themselves  "  The  Confederate  States 
of  America." 

These  Southerners  believed  that,  although  the  States  had 
all  at  one  time  banded  together  under  one  government,  still 
each  State  had  a  right  to  step  out  and  set  up  a  government 


10 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


of  its  own  if  it  chose.  This  is  what  John  C.  Calhoun  said 
in  his  speeches  before  Congress,  and  without  doubt  he  be 
lieved  what  he  said  was  true.  This 
was  the  same  old  question  of  "  State 
rights  "  of  which  you  heard  away  back 
as  far  as  when  Washington  was  Presi 
dent.  Don't  you  remember  how  jeal 
ous  of  each  other  the  political  par 
ties  were  even  in  those  early  times  ? 
How  afraid  one  party  was  that  too 
much  power  would  be  given  to 
the  central  government,  that  is,  to 
the  President  and  Congress?  And 
how  equally  afraid  the  other  party 
was  that  the  power  would  be  too 
much  scattered  around  among  the  different  States?  And 
do  you  remember  in  Jackson's  administration,  that  some  of 
these  same  Southern  States  declared  the  central  government 
"  null  and  void,"  and  said  they  had  a  right  to  leave  the 
Union  if  they  wanted  to?  They  even  went  so  far  as  to 
form  a  league,  and  would  really  have  made  trouble  enough 
had  not  Jackson  rushed  down  upon  them  before  they  had 
time  to  d )  any  mischief. 

Here  was  this  same   old  question  up  again,  in  a  new  dress 
to  be  sure,  but  it  was  the  same  old  question. 

The  Northern   people  had   no  idea  how  much   this  matter 


JEFFEKSON    DAVIS. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  11 

meant  to  the  Southern  people.  Even  when  South  Carolina 
really  "  seceded"  from  the  Union  —  even  then  the  North 
erners  thought  it  was  only  a  threat. 

But  lest  we  should  be  too  severe  in  our  judgment  on  these 
Southerners,  let  us  stop  and  see  why  it  was  they  cared  so 
little  about  that  "  Union,"  which,  to  a  Northerner,  is  so 
dear.  This  is  the  reason  :  the  Southerner  had  been  brought 
up  from  his  babyhood  to  love  his  State,  his  State  flag,  his 
State  Government.  To  him,  his  State  was  everything. 
He  had  been  brought  up  to  say,  "  I  am  a  Virginian  !"  or 
"  I  am  a  South  Carolinian  !  "  It  was  his  State  flag  that  he 
had  seen  raised  on  festal  days  ;  it  was  the  State  flag  that 
waved  over  the  public  buildings,  and  over  their  forts. 
Everything  to  him  was  State  !  State  !  State  !  He  loved  his 
State,  he  was  proud  of  her,  and  he  was  ready  to  die  for  her. 

Now  let  us  see  how  the  Northerner  had  been  brought  up. 
He,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  hardly  knew  what  his  State  flag 
was  —  he  never  heard  anything  about  it,  never  saw  it.  It 
was  always  the  "  Stars  and  Stripes  "  that  floated  before  him 
in  these  Northern  States.  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner," 
44  My  Country,  'tis  of  Thee,"  "God  Bless  Our  Union," 
were  the  songs  he  had  always  sung.  He  never  said,  "  I  am 
a  New  Yorker  !  "  or  "  I  am  a  Rhode  Islander  !  "  but  always, 
"/  am  an  American!"  Everything  to  him  was  Union! 
Union  !  Union  !  He  loved  the  Union,  he  was  proud  of  her, 
he  was  ready  to  die  for  her.  So  you  see,  these  two  parties 


12  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

could  not  understand  each  other.  The  Northerner  could  not 
believe  that  the  Southerner  would  do  such  an  awfid 
thing  as  to  break  up  the  sacred  Union,  and  the  Southerner, 
on  the  other  side,  could  not  see  that  there  was  anything 
awful  at  all  in  breaking  up  the  Union,  which  to  him  was  r>ot 
sacred  at  all. 


JjJHCOLN     |p     * 

While  this  quarrel  was  boiling  and  bubbling,  the  day  was 
drawing  near  when  Lincoln  was  to  take  his  place  at  the  head 
of  the  nation. 

He  started  from  his  simple  home  full  of  hope  for  his 
country,  even  in  so  threatening  a  time  as  this  ;  full  of  honest 
intention  to  serve  her  faithfully,  and  with  no  wish  to  wage 
war  upon  any  State  or  States.  Innocent  in  his  own  heart, 
free  from  all  malice,  he  could  not  believe  it  when  he  was 
told  that  a  plot  had  been  laid  to  murder  him  as  he  passed 
through  the  city  of  Baltimore.  It  was  too  true,  however; 
and  the  friends  of  the  new  President  found  it  necessary  to 
have  him  pass  through  this  city  at  night,  under  the  cover  of 
darkness. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


13 


On  reaching  the  capital",  he  made  his  inaugural  address, 
as  all  the  Presidents  have  done  since  the  time  when  Wash 
ington  made  his  from  the  balcony  to  the  people  on  the  green 
below. 

This  address  was  honest  and  manly,  as  everything  that 
Lincoln  said  was  sure  to  bo.  He  told  the  South  that  he  had 
no  wish  to  make  any  trouble  for  those  States,  no  wish  to 
interfere  with  their  rights  ;  he  only  desired  that  they  should 
abide  by  the  laws  of  the  country.  He  said,  however,  that 
they  had  no  right  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  no  right  to 
take  into  their  own  hands  the  forts  or  any  other  property 
belonging  to  the  Union  ;  if  they  did  these  things,  it  was  his 
duty,  as  the  chief  officer  of  the  Government,  to  demand  that 
they  return  to  the  Union,  and  give  up  any  property  they 
had  taken. 

Now,  as  both  these  things  had  already  been  done  in  the 
South,  that  party  at  once  said,  "  Lincoln  has  no  right  to 
say  we  shall  stay  in  the  Union  ;  we  will  not  give  up  the  forts 
that  are  on  our  own  coasts ;  we  will  fight  for  them ;  we  will 
not  be  ruled  by  any  Union  Government."  And  now  the 
war  was  close  at  hand. 


14 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


15 


J3 


UMTER. 


During  the  last  months  of  Buchanan's  administration, 
Major  Robert  Anderson,  who  held  command  over  the  forts 
in  Charleston  harbor,  had  asked  over  and  over  again  for  men 
provisions  for  these  forts.  He  had  shown  the  President 
plainly  that  he  could  not  much 
longer  hold  them  against  the 
"seceding"  States,  unless  help 
were  given  ;  but  still  no  help  had 
come.  When  Lincoln  became 
:>  President,  Anderson  asked 

i^x   vi 

again.  Lincoln  replied  that 
help  should  at  once  be  sent. 
The  leaders  of  the  "  Con 
federates"  or  "  Seceders"  — 
you  must  remember  both  these 
names,  for  they  both  mean  the 
Southern  people  —  the  leaders  of 
these  Southerners,  hearing  of 
this,  went  to  Major  Anderson  and  ordered  him  to  surrender 
the  fort  to  them  at  once. 

Anderson,  of  course,  refused.  He  knew  only  too  well 
that  he  had  no  men,  guns  or  powder  with  which  to  hold  tho 
fort,  if  the  Confederates  saw  fit  to  fire  upon  it;  still,  loyal 
Unionist  that  he  was,  he  determined  to  hold  out  to  the  very 


MA  JOB   ANDERSON. 


16 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


last.     "  It  shall  not  be  said  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  are 
hauled  down  without  a  struggle,"  said  he. 

He  had  only  eighty  men,  but  he  thought  he  could  hold 
out  as  long  as  the  provisions  lasted,  and  so  this  little  band 
Prepared  for  action. 


FOKT    SUMTEK   AFTER   THE   FIKING. 


There  were  three  more  forts  in  the  harbor,  all  in  Confed 
erate  hands,  and  beside  this,  they  had  built  two  great  rafts 
upon  which  they  had  fixed  cannon.  These  they  floated 
round  in  front  of  the  fort,  and  on  Friday,  April  12,  1861, 
the  Confederates  opened  fire  from  these  five  points,  all  upon 


AMERICAN"  HISTORY  STORIES.  17 

the  one  little  fort  with  its  eighty  men.  The  "Civil  War" 
had  begun. 

Down  came  the  rain  of  shot  and  shell,  around  the  fort, 
across  the  fort,  into  the  fort.  The  wooden  barracks  inside 
took  fire  again  and  again  ;  and  on  the  second  day,  they  were 
burned  to  the  ground.  It  was  a  hot  time  for  the  brave  little 
garrison.  The  air  was  so  hot,  and  the  smoke  was  so  chok 
ing  and  so  blinding,  that  they  could  work  only  with  their 
faces  covered  with  wet  cloths.  Every  hour  the  fort  grew 
to  look  more  and  more  like  a  great  ruin. 

It  was  plain  enough  that  Major  Anderson  must  surrender. 
All  this  time,  however,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  had  been  kep- 
flying  from  above  the  fort.  Even  when  they  had  been  torn 
down  by  the  flying  balls  from  the  enemy,  some  «man  had 
always  been  ready  to  nail  them  up  again.  But  now  the 
white  flag  of  surrender  had  to  be  shown.  The  firing  ceased, 
and  the  Confederates  came  over  to  the  fort  in  boats  to  make 
terms  with  Major  Anderson.  It  was  agreed,  after  long  dis 
cussion,  that  Anderson  and  his  men  should  be  allowed  to 
march  out  with  flying  colors,  should  be  allowed  to  salute 
the  dear  old  flag  with  fifty  guns,  and  then  should  march 
away  in  peace. 

This  was  done  ;  and  as  soon  as  they  had  gone,  General 


18  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

Beauregard,  the  Confederate  leader,  marched  into  the  ruined 
fort,    tore    down  the  "  Stars  and    Stripes," 
and  ran  up  the  South  Carolina  State  flag 
in  its  place. 

This  is  a  brief  story  of  the  bom 
barding  of  "  Fort  Sumter."     Not 
a    single   life    was    lost    on   either 
side  ;    but  if  millions  upon  mill-       > 
ions  of  lives  had  been  lost,  there      m 
could  not  have  been  greater  ex-  THE sou™  «™.»>  ^. 

citement  throughout  the  country.  Ask  your  fathers  and 
your  mothers,  or  your  grandfathers  and  your  grandmothers, 
to  tell  you  about  it.  It  was  less  than  thirty  years  ago,  and 
anywhere  you  can  find  men  and  women  who  remember 
those  early  times  of  the  Civil  War. 

They  were  exciting  days  indeed  !  The  different  political 
parties  of  the  North,  forgetting  all  differences,  all  ill  feelings, 
all  quarrels,  now  joined  hands  and  hearts  in  this  terrible 
time.  There  was  but  one  cry  in  the  hearts  of  all  —  "  Save 
the  Union  !  Save  the  Union  ! ''  Nothing  more  was  to  be 
heard  about  Democrats  or  Republicans,  tariff  or  no  tariff,— 
Unionists  or  Confederates  were  the  words  now  on  every  lip. 
No  longer  was  it  Republicans  against  Democrats,  but  the 
North  against  the  South,  the~l3outh  against  the  North. 

And  now,  President  Lincoln  sent  forth  a  call  for  help  - 
for   men  to  go  against   the  South.      Seventy-five  thousand 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  19 

men,  he  asked  for,  to  help  him  "  to  preserve  the  Union." 
From  every  city,  and  town,  and  village,  answers  came.  It 
seemed  as  if  every  man  in  the  country  was  ready.  Rich 
men  and  poor  men  marched  away  together  side  by  side, 
willing  to  bear  all  the  hardships  of  the  soldiers'  lot. 

The  women,  too,  were  as  alive  as  the  men.  It  seemed  as 
if  the  Revolutionary  spirit  had  revived  again  in  them.  No 
woman  too  rich  or  too  poor,  too  high  or  too  low,  too  strong 
or  too  weak,  not  to  do  something  for  the  Union  soldier. 
Little  children,  too,  caught  the  spirit  of  the  times.  When 
they  saw  their  fathers  and  their  big  brothers  march  away, 
their  little  hearts  were  full  of  tears,  I  fear,  but  they  were  all 
the  readier  to  work  for  the  soldiers  because  their  own  dear 
ones  had  gone  away  with  them. 

In  the  South  the  same  feeling  of  loyalty  to  what  they  be 
lieved  was  right  was  shown  among  the  men  and  women 
there.  Remember  they  loved  their  States  as  truly  as  the 
Northerners  loved  the  Union. 

When  the  news  that  Fort  Sumter  had  fallen  into  thei; 
hands  was  heard  throughout  the  South,  men  and  womeir 
were  wild  with  joy.  Songs  were  sung,  verses  were  written, 
public  meetings  were  held,  and  the  South  was  boiling  over 
with  excitement. 

Such  was  the  excitement  in  the  North  and  in  the  South 
after  the  taking  of  Fort  Sumter  by  the  Confederates.  Let 
us  see  now  what  next  was  done. 


PASSING  THROUGH  BALTIMORE. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  21 

THE   ^mpT   BLOODSHED. 

Do  you  remember  what  happened  in  the  Revolution  on 
one  19th  of  April? 

And  now  we  have  another  19th  of  April  to  learn  about  — 
19th  of  April,  1801. 

In  answer  to  Lincoln's  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men, 
many  a  small  company  from  the  different  States  had  been 
got  together,  and  were  training  for  service.  One  of  these 
companies,  the  "  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment,"  reached 
Baltimore,  on  its  way  to  Washington,  on  this  morning  of  the 
19th  of  April,  1861.  When  the  cars  which  brought  them 
reached  the  city,  it  was  met  by  a  crowd  of  angry  people 
armed  with  sticks,  and  clubs,  and  guns  —  a  blacker,  angrier 
mob  was  never  seen. 

These  cars  were  drawn  through  the  city  from  one  depot 
to  another,  the  soldiers  inside.  The  mob  followed,  throw 
ing  stones  and  brick-bats  into  the  windows  from  every  side. 

At  last,  unable  to  endure  it  any  longer,  the  officers  ordered 
the  soldiers  to  form  into  ranks,  and  march  in  a  solid  column 
to  the  depot. 

On  they  marched,  the  brick-bats  and  balls  whizzing  about 
their  ears.  Just  as  they  reached  the  depot,  the  command 
was  given,  "  Fire  !  " 

Then  the  troops  turned  their  guns  into  the  crowd  ;  and 
many  a  man  fell  before  the  fire  of  these  soldiers  whom  they 


22 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


had  attacked.  For  a  moment  there  was  a  lull !  The  mob 
itself  stood  still  before  its  awful  work !  But  only  for  a 
moment ;  then  with  yells  of  rage  and  threats  of  revenge, 
they  fell  upon  the  troops,  surrounded  the  cars,  filling  the  air 
with  howls  and  curses.  Amid  this  terrible  scene  the  cars 
rolled  out  of  the  depot.  Three  of  the  soldiers  had  been 
killed,  and  there  were  eighteen  wounded. 


During  all  this  time  the  Confederates  had  been  threatening 
to  attack  Washington,  and  tear  down  the  Union  flag  from 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  23 

the  Capitol,  They  hud  even  said  they  would  yet  have  their 
o\vn  flag  waving  over  Faneuil  Hall  in  Boston.  Think  of  it, 
imagine  anything  but  the  "Stars  and  Stripes"  waving  over 
that  old  "  Cradle  of  Liberty." 

Even  then  the  Northerners  did  not  realize  how  full  of  hate 
the  Southerners  were.  Washington  was  indeed  poorly 
guarded,  but  the  idea  of  attacking  the  Nation's  Capitol !  It 
didn't  seem  possible.  But  now  there  came  a  cry,  "  Wash 
ington  is  in  danger  !  Help,  help  for  Washington  !"  And 
help  came.  The  Seventh  Regiment  of  New  York,  a  regiment 
of  young  men,  kept  up  to  this  time  only  for  parades,  never 
expecting  to  be  called  into  real  war,  came  forward  -and 
volunteered,  that  is,  offered  to  go  to  protect  the  capital. 

How  the  people  shrank  from  accepting  this  noble  sacrifice  ! 
This  pet  regiment  of  the  State  !  made  up  of  the  very  "flower 
of  volunteer  troops,"  as  it  was  said  then,  to  go  into  battle  to 
be  shot  down,  very  likely,  like  dogs  !  But  they  were  ready; 
the  country  needed  them,  and  so,  one  morning  in  April,  this 
regiment  marched  down  Broadway,  the  main  street  of  New 
York  city,  to  the  cars  that  should  carry  them  to  Washington. 

That  was  a  great  day  in  New  York  city  !  Crowds  and 
crowds  of  men  and  women  filled  the  squares  and  the  side 
walks,  and  cheers  upon  cheers  rent  the  air  as  these  boys 
marched  down  the  street.  Theodore  Winthrop,  one  of  the 
young  men  in  this  noble  regiment,  in  writing  of  this  day, 
says : 


/4  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

"  It  was  worth  a  life,  that  march.  Only  one  who  passed 
«s  we  did  through  that  tempest  of  cheers,  two  miles  long, 
cun  know  the  terrible  enthusiasm  of  the  day.  We  knew  now, 
if  we  had  not  before  known,  that  our  great  city  was  with 
us  as  one  man,  united  in  the  cause  we  were  marching  to 
sustain." 

This  regiment  was  joined  by  the  Eighth  Massachusetts 
Regiment,  with  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler  as  one  of  its 
volunteer  generals.  It  was  supposed  that  General  Butler 
had  always  had  much  sympathy  with  the  South,  and  had 
been  always  in  favor  of  allowing  the  South  all  the  freedom 
to  carry  out  their  own  ideas  that  could  possibly  be  given 
them  without  real  harm  to  the  Government.  But  when 
the  South  set  out  to  break  up  the  Union,  no  one  rose  quicker 
in  its  defence  than  did  General  Butler.  When  one  of  his 
Southern  friends  told  him  what  the  South  was  planning  to 
do,  Butler  said, 

"If  you  do  that,  I  trust  you  are  ready  for  war." 

"Pooh  !  the  North  will  not  fight,"  said  the  Southerner. 

"The  North  will  fight,"  replied  Butler.  "You  touch  the 
Union  flag,  and  you'll  find  that  the  North  will  rise  in  a  solid 
body  against  you ;  and  if  war  does  come,  down  will  go  your 
Confederacy,  slavery  and  all." 

But  the  South  did  not  believe  it,  although  they  had  good 
reason  to  know  that  General  Butler  had  a  "long  head,"  as 
we  often  say  when  we  mean  that  a  person  understands  what 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES  25 

he  is  talking  about.  Imagine  their  surprise  then,  when  they 
found  that  even  Butler  himself  was  against  them,  when  it  came 
to  be  a  real  question  with  him  whether  to  stand  by  the  South, 
or  to  stand  by  the  Union.  Alas  !  it  took  the  Southerners  a 
long  time  to  understand  what  the  Union  meant  to  a  North 
erner.  And,  alas,  it  took  the  Northerners  a  long  time  to 
understand  what  the  State  meant  to  the  Southerner.  It 
proved  a  bitter,  bitter  lesson  to  them  both. 

These  regiments,  the  Seventh  New  York  and  the  Eighth 
Massachusetts,  arrived  safely  at  Washington,  and  the 
capital  was  safe.  But  on  account  of  the  Secessionists  in 
Baltimore,  these  troops  had  been  obliged  to  get  to  Washing 
ton  in  a  very  roundabout  way,  to  avoid  being  attacked  as 
the  Massachusetts  Sixth  had  been. 

4 'Now,"  said  Butler,  when  he  had  fairly  got  his  regiment 
m  order  after  their  march,  "the  city  of  Baltimore  must  be 
taken.  The  city  is  made  up  of  Union  men  and  women,  but 
they  are  kept  down  by  the  few  'Secessionists'  there.  That 
city  must  be  freed.  We  can't  bother  to  take  our  troops 
around  through  the  woods  and  up  the  rivers  every  time  we 
want  to  bring  them  to  Washington,  when  there  is  a  railroad 
straight  through  that  city.  No,  Baltimore  must  be  taken  ; 
and  I  will  go  and  take  it !  " 

Accordingly,  he  marched  to  Baltimore ;  and  one  night, 
when  the  sky  was  black,  and  the  rain  was  pouring,  the  wind 
\  vvvling,  the  lightning  flashing  and  the  thunder  mum- 


26  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

bling  and  rolling  on  every  side,  up  ho  marched  with 
his  men  and  his  cannon  to  the  top  of  Federal  Hill.  There 
he  was  when  the  morning  dawned,  his  flags  flying,  his  guns 
ready,  his  great  black  cannons  looking  down  upon  the  city 
as  much  as  to  say,  "Make  one  move  against  the  Union,  lift 
one  finger  against  our  troops,  and  our  black  throats  are  ready 
to  pour  out  fire  and  death  upon  you." 

The  Secessionists  understood  the  language  of  the  cannons, 
and  from  that  time  the  Union  soldiers  marched  in  peace 
through  the  city  of  Baltimore. 


THE  CONFEDERATE 


The  States  that  first  withdrew  from 
the  Union  were  States  farthest  re 
moved  from  the  North.  Thes^ 
States  supposed  that  all  the  other 
slave  States  would  at  once  join 
with  them  in  their  Confederacy. 
Those  States  which  were  farther  north,  nearer  the  Northern 
States,  had  more  of  the  neighborly  feeling  than  the  first 
seceding  States  had  ever  dreamed  of.  In  those  States, 
Unionists  and  Confederates  dwelt  side  by  side,  and 
in  their  legislatures,  Unionists  and  Confederates  voted 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  27 

side  by  side.  So  you  see  it  was  not  so  easy  after  all  to  pass 
"  Secession  "  laws  in  these  States. 

Virginia  was  the  first  State  to  join  the  seven  that  had 
banded  together  to  form  their  Confederacy.  "Hurrah! 
hurrah!"  cried  the  Confederates,  "Virginia,  Old  Virginia, 
Virginia  the  mother  of  the  Presidents,  the  home  of  George 
Washington,  has  joined  us  !  " 

But  the  Confederate  joy  was  dampened  a  little  when  the 
western  part  of  Virginia  rose  in  rebellion,  and  said  she  would 
not  belong  to  a  secession  State.  This  western  Virginia  held 
meetings,  withdrew  from  the  State,  appealed  to  Congress, 
and,  as  a  reward  for  her  loyalty  to  the  Union,  was  set  off  a 
State  by  herself,  known  ever  after  as  "  West  Virginin." 

Soon  Arkansas  joined  the  Confederacy;  thon  followed 
North  Carolina,  then  Tennessee.  It  is  believed  that  Ten 
nessee  would  not  have  seceded,  had  the  Unionists  not  been 
threatened  with  "  bullets  and  cold  steel"  if  they  dared  say 
one  word  against  the  South,  in  the  convention  which  was  to 
be  held  in  that  State. 

Kentucky  and  Missouri  wished  to  have  nothing  to  do  with 
3ither  side.  They  would  stand  by  the  Union,  but  they  would 
not  fight  the  South.  Maryland,  awed  by  the  prompt  action 
of  Butler,  was  kept  in  the  Union.  Delaware,  loyal  little 
State  that  she  was,  and  cautious  too,  preferred  to  stay  where 
she  was  in  comfort,  rather  than  to  join  so  uncertain  a  move 
ment  as  this  surely  seemed  to  be. 


28  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

The  Confederacy  then  stood  as  follows  : 

These  were  the  States  that  had  left  the  Union  and  were 
ready  to  fight  for  their  State  rights,  as  they  believed  them  to 
be.  These  were  the  States  that  had  hauled  down  the  *'  Star? 
and  Stripes,"  and  had  hoisted  in  its  place  the  Secession 
flag. 

SEVEN    ORIGINAL   SECESSION    STATES. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA.  ALABAMA. 

GEORGIA.  MISSISSIPPI. 

FLORIDA.  LOUISIANA. 
TEXAS. 

THE    LATER   STATES. 

OLD  VIRGINIA  TENNESSEE. 

NORTH  CAROLINA.  ARKANSAS. 

THE    SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA.  OLD  VIRGINIA. 

GEORGIA.  TENNESSEE. 

ALABAMA.  ARKANSAS. 

LOUISIANA.  FLORIDA. 

NORTH  CAROLINA.  MISSISSIPPI. 
TEXAS. 

President  of  the  Confederacy    JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


VOUNQ    COLONEL 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  threatening  al) 

o  o 

this  time  against  the  Union  troops  if  they 
should  dare  set  foot  upon  the  (i  sa 
cred  soil  of  Old  Virginia  "  as  the 
Southerners  called  it.  But  for  all 
that,  the  Government  saw  fit  very 
early  in  1861  to  send  troops  into 
that  very  State. 

The  "  New  York  Zouaves,"  led 
by  Colonel  Ellsworth,  were  the 
first  to  enter.  The  young  colonel 
was  handsome,  and  brave,  and 
daring ;  and  his  troops,  dressed  in 
brilliant  uniforms  of  red  and  yellow  and  blue,  were  the 
pride  and  delight  of  the  army. 

Ellsworth's  troops  entered  the  town  of  Alexandria,  beyond 
the  Potomac  in  Virginia,  full  of  life  and  hope,  and  full  of 
faith  in  their  gay  young  colonel.  On  they  marched,  their 
colors  flying,  the  drums  beating,  straight  up  to  a  hotel 
from  whose  top  was  seen  a  secession  flag. 

"Halt!"  came  the  command  as  they  reached  the  hotel 
entrance.  Rushing  into  the  building,  up  the  stair-case,  he 
pulled  down  the  secession  flag,  and  marched  with  it  down  the 
stairs  again.  But  at  the  foot  of  the  stairway,  stood  the 


A    ZOUAVE 


30 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


tavern-keeper,  ready  to  resent  this  insult  to  his  flag.  Bang  ! 
went  his  gun,  and  young  Ellsworth  fell  dead.  Bang  !  went 
another  gun,  and  down  by  l.llsworth's  side  dropped  the 
tavern-keeper,  shot  dead  by  one  of  Ellsworth's  men. 

I  cannot  tell  you  what  excitement  the  death  of  this  young 
colonel  caused  throughout  the  North.  Every  honor  was 
paid  him  ;  every  school-boy  was  told  of  the  martyred  Ells 
worth  ;  little  babies  were  named  for  him  ;  little  boys  were 
dressed  in  Zouave  suits  in  imitation  of  him,  and  everywhere 
the  name  of  Ellsworth  was  a  household  word 


-CONTRABAND^. 

There  were  many  forts 
up  and  down  the  coast 
that  had  been  taken  by  the 
Confederates ;  and  there 
were  others,  still  held  by 
the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  which  the  Confeder 
ates  were  equally  anxious 
to  get  into  their  power. 

To  one  of  these,  Fortress  Monroe,  Butler  had  been  sent 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  31 

with  troops.  As  soon  us  he  had  settled  in  his  new  quarters, 
Butler  began  to  make  short  marches  here  and  there  about  the 
country,  that,  by  and  by,  when  the  people  round  about 
should  rise  against  him,  he  might  have  some  sort  of  an  idea 
what  kind  of  a  place  he  was  in, — where  the  roads  were, 
where  they  led  to,  where  the  villages  were,  and  how  many 
people  were  in  the  villages. 

Everywhere  he  went,  he  was  met  by  negroes,  who,  when 
they  saw  his  Union  soldiers,  would  come  up  to  them  singing 
the  funniest  old  songs,  all  about  freedom,  bondage,  and  the 
year  of  jubilee.  Negroes,  you  know,  are  always  a  jolly  class 
among  themselves,  always  dancing,  and  singing  their  strange 
old  tunes.  These  negroes,  too,  in  spite  of  all  their  years  of 
slavery,  were  still  full  of  noise  and  music.  Some  of  their 
songs  are  very  funny,  both  in  words  and  tune  ;  others  are 
so  rad  and  weary  ;  they  speak  to  you  of  those  dark,  dark 
days  when  these  poor  men  and  women  worked  like  cattle 
through  the  long  hot  days,  were  whipped  and  driven  like 
cattle,  and  Avere  bought  and  sold  like  cattle  in  the  market 
place. 

It  began  to  be  a  serious  question  what  to  do  with  these 
jiegroes.  The  object  of  the  war  was  not  to  free  the  slaves, 
but  to  preserve  the  Union.  Many  a  soldier,  many  an  officer 
in  the  Union  ranks,  believed  yet  in  the  right  of  the  South  to 
keep  slaves  if  she  wanted  to.  They  were  fighting  only  to 
save  the  Union.  Others  there  were,  who  declared  slavery  a 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  33 

wicked  sin  ;  and  these  men  claimed  the  right  to  save  these 
slaves  and  free  them. 

But  now  the  slaves  themselves  began  to  ask,  "Are  you 
coming  to  free  us,  or  are  you  not?"  And  no  one  was  quite 
ready  to  say. 

The  negroes  supposed  they  were  to  be  freed  ;  and  fre 
quently  slaves  came  into  the  Union  camp,  begging  to  be 
carried  away  somewhere,  anywhere,  only  to  be  free.  What 
to  do  with  them  was  getting  every  day  to  be  a  puzzle. 

Again  General  Butler  came  forward.  (f  What  shall  we 
do  with  these  negroes  !  "  said  he  ;  "  why,  it's  plain  enough. 
The  Southerners  have  always  said  these  slaves  are  their 
property  just  as  their  horses  and  their  cows,  their  tobacco 
and  their  cotton  are  their  property.  Very  well  ;  then  we 
are  to  treat  them  just  as  we  would  treat  the  cows  and  the 
horses,  the  tobacco  and  the  cotton  —  that  is,  we  will  take 
them  for  our  own  use.  That  is  the  rule  in  war,  that  on 
entering  an  enemy's  country,  the  army  shall  take  everything 
it  needs  for  its  own  use.  Those  things  which  the  enemy 
takes  arc  called  'contraband  goods.'  Therefore,  since  the 
negro  is  the  property  of  the  Confederate,  we  may  take  him 
just  as  we  would  take  a  Confederate  barrel  of  flour.  He  is, 
like  the  flour,  contraband  goods." 

Nobody  could  find  any  fault  with  this,  certainly.  It  was 
true  enough.  And  after  that  the  negro  was  eaUet1  i^e 
"  Contraband." 


34     THE  CONTRABAND  OF  PORT  ROYAL. 

Poetry  by  JOHN  G.  WHITTIEH.  FERDINAND  MAYER. 


1.  Oh,  praise  an' tanks  !  de  Lord  He  come    To     set     de    peo  -  pie 

2.  Olo    raas-sa     on        lie  trab-bles  gone,  He    leab    de    land    be  - 

3.  Wo   pray  de  Lord :     he    gib    ns  signs   Dat  some  day    we     be 

4.  We  know  de  prom  -  ise   neb  -ber  fail,    An'    neb-ber    lie      de 


free; 
hind: 
free; 
word. 


An'      mas  -  sa      tink       it  day      of  doom,    An' 

De  Lord  's  breff  blow    him  fur  -  der  on,     Like 

De  Norf-wind    tell       it  to       do  pines,    De 

So      like      de      'pos  -  ties  in       de  jail,      We 


we      ob      ju  -  bli  -    eo. 
corn-shuck   in       de      wind, 
wild -duck   to       do       sea. 
wait  -  cd      for      do      Lord : 

I     - 


De  Lord  dat    heap  de 

We  own    de      hoe,  we 

We  tink     it     when  de 

An    now    he         o     -  pen 

d=fcJ=i 


Hod     Sea  waves,  He      jus'     as    'trong  as  den;  He 

own     de    plow,     We     own    de    hands  dat  hold;  We 

church  bell    ring,     We  dream   it         in  de  dream;  De 

eb  -  ery     door,     An'    trow     a  -    way  de  key;  He 


THE  CONTRABAND  OF  PORT  ROYAL. 


3a 


say  de  word :  we  las'  night  slaves  :  To-day, de  Lord's  freemen. 

seil  ds     pig,    we   sell   ^de  cow,   But  neb-ber  chile  be     sold. 

rice-bird  mean  it  when  he  sing,     De    ea  -  gle  when  he  scream. 

tinkwe  lub    him    so    be- fore,    We  lub  him  bet- ter    free. 


FT 


De    yam      will    grow,        de      cot  -    ton      blow,      We  '11 

rs         I  I  I 

jL      JL        JL        JL- 


f  r          '          P  r  i 

hab     de      rice     an'      corn :        Oh,       neb-ber  you     fear,      if 


r-   "t       r 

neb-ber  you      hear        De     driv  -     er      blow      his       horn. 


SILVER  BELL. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


While  the  Union  soldiers  were  in  the  slave  States,  the 
negroes,  although  most  of  them  were  at  heart  with  the  Union 
cause,  had  to  l>e  very  careful  what  they  said. 

The  answers  these  negroes  would  make  when  asked 
which  side  they  were  on,  were  often  very  laughable.  You 
see,  there  were  so  many  spies  around,  that  the  poor  negro 
never  could  be  sure  whether  it  was  a  Unionist  or  a  Con 
federate  that  was  talking  with  him.  And  he  knew  well 
enough  that  if  he  should  make  a  mistake,  and  tell  a  Confed 
erate  he  was  a  Unionist  or  if  he  should  tell  a  Unionist  he 
was  a  Confederate,  he  might  be  shot  down. 

One  day,  a  gray-haired  negro  was  seen  perched  on  the 
top  of  a  rail  fence  watching  the  soldiers  with  great  interest. 
One  soldier,  thinking  to  have  some  fun,  called  out  to  him  : 

"  Well,  uncle,  are  you  for  the  Confederates  or  the  Yan 
kees?" 

A  smile  lit  up  his  weather-beaten  face,  as  he  replied  : 

"  Why,  you  see,  massa,  'taint  for  an  old  nigger  like  me 
to  know  anything 'bout  politics." 

The  soldier  said  rather  sternly  :  "Well,  sir,  let  me  know 
*vhich  side  you  are  on,  any  way." 

The  old  man  kept  up  his  smile  for  a  moment,  and  then 
putting  on  a  grave  look,  which  was  quite  laughable, 
answered  : 

"I'm  on  de  Lord's  side,  massa,  and  he'll  work  out  his 
salvation  ;  bress  de  Lord." 


AMERICAN    HISTORY  STORIES.  37 

BETHEL"   AND    "  J^ITTLE   BETHEL." 

With  Butler  at  Fortress  Munroe,  was  young  Theodore 
Winthrop,  who,  when  his  regiment  was  no  longer  needed 
at  Washington,  had  offered  to  join  Butler's  regiment  and 
go  to  Fortress  Munroe. 

From  one  of  these  Contrabands,  Winthrop  had  learned 
that  about  two  thousand  Confederates  had  encamped  at 
two  churches  called  "Little  Bethel"  and  "Big  Bethel." 

Butler  and  Winthrop  at  once  began  to  plan  an  attack  upon 
these  Confederates.  Their  plan  was  this  ;  the  troops  were 
to  be  divided  into  two  bodies  and  fall  upon  the  Rebels  at 
Little  Bethel,  close  around  them,  and  prevent  their  getting 
to  their  companions  at  Big  Bethel. 

The  two  lines  marched  out  quietly  in  the  darkness,  and 
came  upon  Little  Bethel  as  they  had  planned.  But  here  a 
terrible  mistake  took  place.  Just  as  these  two  lines  met 
near  the  church  they  fired  into  each  other's  ranks,  each 
thinking  the  other  line  the  enemy.  A  scene  of  confusion 
followed  and  before  orders  could  be  given,  the  soldiers  at 
Little  Bethel  had  fled  to  thdse  at  Big  Bethel,  and  together 
they  were  ready  to  rain  down  their  hot  fire  upon  the  Union 
ranks.  A  quick  hard  fight  followed ;  and  Winthrop  himself, 
while  mounted  on  a  log  to  cheer  his  men,  was  shot  dead. 

Again  there  was  mourning  throughout  the  North  that  so 
promising  a  young  officer  should  have  fallen.  The  names 


38  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

of  Ellsworth  and  Winthrop  have  always  been  held  in 
respect ;  and  for  many  a  day  were  household  words  ;  until 
the  time  came  when  officers  and  men  fell  so  thick  and  fast 
they  could  hardly  be  named  or  numbered,  and  their  losses 
were  known  only  in  the  hearts  of  their  own  friends,  and 
in  their  own  homes. 


BETHEL. 


We  mustered  at  midnight,  in  darkness  we  formed, 
And  the  whisper  went  round  of  a  fort  to  be  stormed  ; 
But  no  drum-beat  had  called  us,  no  trumpet  we  heard, 
And  no  voice  of  command,  but  our  colonel's  low  word,  — 

"  Column  !  Forward  !  " 

And  out,  through  the  mist  and  the  murk  of  the  moon, 
From  the  beaches  of  Hampton  our  barges  were  borne  ; 
And  we  heard  not  a  sound  save  a  sweep  of  the  oar, 
Till  the  word  of  our  colonel  came  up  from  the  shore.  — 

'  '  Column  !  Forward  !  " 

Through  green-tasseled  cornfields  our  columns  were  thrown, 
And  like  corn  by  the  red  scythe  of  fire  we  were  mown  ; 
While  the  cannon's  fierce  plouglimgs  new-furrowed  the  plain, 
That  our  blood  might  be  planted  for  Liberty's  grain,  — 

"  Column  !  Forward  !  " 

Oh  !  the  fields  of  fair  June  have  no  lack  of  sweet  flowers, 
But  their  rarest  and  best  breathe  no  fragrance  like  ours  ; 
And  the  sunshine  of  June,  sprinkling  gold  on  the  corn, 
Hath  no  harvest  that  ripeneth  like  BETHEL'S  red  morn,  — 

"  Column  !  Forward  !  " 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  39 

When  our  heroes,  like  bridegrooms,  with  lips  and  with  breath 
Drank  the  first  kiss  of  Danger,  and  clasped  her  in  death  ; 
And  the  heart  of  brave  Winthrop*  grew  mute  with  his  lyre, 
When  the  plumes  of  his  genius  lay  moulting  in  fire, — 

"  Column!  Forward!" 

Where  he  fell  shall  be  sunshine  as  bright  as  his  name, 
And  the  grass  where  he  slejtt  shall  be  green  as  his  fame ; 
For  the  gold  of  the  Pen  and  the  steel  of  the  Sword 
Write  his  deeds  —  in  his  blood  —  on  the  land  he  adored, — 

"  Column!  Forward!  " 

And  the  soul  of  our  comrade  shall  sweeten  the  air, 
And  the  flowers  and  the  grass-blades  his  memory  upbear ; 
While  the  breath  of  his  genius,  like  music  in  leaves, 
With  the  corn-tassels  whisper,  and  sings  in  the  sheaves, — 

"  Column  !  Forward  !  " 

—  A.  J.  H.  DUGANNE. 

*  Major  Theodore  Winthrop  fell  while  cheering  on  his  men  and  was  left  on 
the  battle-field.    Lieutenant  Greble  was  also  killed  in  this  battle. 


LAND   AND    JOHN 

In  any  war,  each  side  has  always  some  one  piece  of  music 
which  its  armies  delight  to  march  by.  An  English  Army, 
I  presume,  would  march  to  "  God  Save  the  Queen ;  "  a 
French  army  to  the  "  Marseilles  Hymn  ;  "  a  German  army 
to  "The  Watch  on  the  Rhine." 


40 


THE   BATTLE  CRY    OF  FREEDOM. 


4=5 — b- 


1- IV- 1 — N PV N V- : • 


1.  Yes,  we '11  ral-ly  round  the  flag, boys, we  'llral-ly  once   a  -  gain, 

2.  We  are  springing  to    the  call    of  our  brothers  gone  be  -  fore, 

CHORUS. 


Shouting  the  bat- tie    cry   of   Free-dom,  We   will  ral  -  ly  from  the 
Shouting  the  bat-  tie    cry  of   Free-dom,  And  we  '11  fill  the  va  -  cant 

CHORUS. 


JT \—  I H\ -T^ rA V : 1 

£*E£J*£^E^aEfc^^^ 

hill-side, we'll  gath-er  from  the  plain, Shouting  the  bat-  tie    cry   of 
ranks  with  a    mil-lion  freemen  more, Shouting  the  bat- tie    cry   of 


Fortissimo. 


Free-dom.     The    Un-ion  for  -  ev  -  er,     Hur-rah  boys,hur-rah ! 


Down  with  the  trait-or,  Up  with  the  star,  While  we  ral  -iy  round  the 


•^  I 

flag, boys,  ral-ly  once  again,  Shouting  the  bat-tie  cry   of  Freedom. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  41 

And  so  in  this  war,  each  side  had  its  own  music.  The 
Confederate  army's  especial  favorite  was  "  Dixie's  Land;'' 
while  the  Union  soldiers  delighted  in  "  John  Brown's  Body 
lies  a  moulderin'  in  the  Ground,"  or  "  Rally  'round  the  Flag? 
Boys." 

I  think  you  boys  and  girls  ought  to  know  these  songs  as 
well  as  to  know  the  battles  of  the  war ;  anything  that  helps 
to  give  us  an  idea  of  the  thought  of  the  people  at  a  time,  is 
a  part  of  the  history  of  that  time.  For  this  reason,  I  hope 
your  teacher  will  find  time  to  let  you  sing  these  songs  now 
and  then. 


BATTLE  OF 

The     Confederates    had    camped 
at  a  railroad  junction  in  Virginia, 
where    the    railroads   running  west 
and   those    running  south  met.     It 
was,    as   you    see,    important   that 
such  a  place  as  that  should  be 
kept   out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Confederates,  lest  all  means  of 
railroad  travel  for  the  Union-         6 
ists  be  cut  off.    The  railroad 
leading  direct  to  Richmond,  the 
city  which  the  Confederates   had 
made  the  capital  of  their  Confed-       .STONE^LI/,  JACKSON. 


42  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

eracy,  led  from  this  junction.  Because  of  this,  the  Confed 
erates  were  carefully  guarding  this  junction. 

General  Beauregard,  the  same  Confederate  who  had 
ordered  the  attack  upon  Fort  Sumter,  was  in  command  herec 
He  was  an  odd  looking  little  man,  with  snapping  black  eyes< 
and  snow  white  hair.  He  hated  ''Yankees"  as  he  hated 
rats;  and  used  often  to  say,  "  We'll  whip  'em,  boys,  if  we 
have  nothing  but  pitchforks  to  do  it  with." 

The  Confederate  army  was  camped  by  the  side  of  a  stream 
called  "Bull  Run."  With  Beauregard  was  another  general 
of  whom  you  need  to  know,  General  Johnston. 

General  McDowell  was  coming  with  the  Union  army  to 
meet  this  foe.  At  nine  o'clock  one  Sunday  morning,  the 
armies  met,  and  a  terrible  battle  followed.  The  Confeder 
ates  began  breaking  up  and  giving  way.  It  seemed  as  if 
victory  was  to  be  on  the  Union  side.  But  General  Jackson 
turned  the  tide — Jackson,  the  cool-headed,  iron-hearted, 
immovable  Confederate  General. 

"  Boys,  there  stands  Jackson  cool  and  firm  as  a  stone 
wall  !  "  said  a  soldier,  ns  he  saw  him  in  the  midst  of  this 
fearful  slaughter,  sitting  as  quietly  upon  his  horse,  giving 
his  orders  as  coolly,  as  if  he  were  in  the  quiet  fields  of  his 
own  plantation. 

"Jackson  like  a  stone-wall,"  fiew  along  the  lines,  from 
mouth  to  mouth,  and  ever  after  this  'grim  old  general  was 
called  "  Stonewall  Jackson." 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  43 

At  noon  time,  fresh  Confederate  forces  came  up,  and  the 
already  exhausted  Unionists  rallied  to  fight  again.  Back  and 
forth  the  lines  surged  against  each  other.  Guns  were  taken 
and  retaken  over  and  over.  No  one  could  tell  which  side 
was  winning. 

All  this  time,  the  Confederate  leaders  had  been  watching 
for  new  troops  which  were  expected  every  hour  from  the 
Shenandoah  valley. 

The  Shenandoah  troops  arrived  !  Woe,  woe  to  the  Union 
lines  !  the  first  knowledge  they  had  of  their  new  foe,  was  the 
yell  that  arose  from  every  side,  "  The  enemy  are  upon  us  ! 
the  enemy  are  upon  us  ! " 

Now  followed  a  terrible  fright.  The  Union  soldiers, 
frightened  and  confused,  dropped  guns,  knapsacks,  every 
thing  and  fled  ; — fled  like  wild  animals,  with  no  reason  and 
no  order. 

On,  on  they  ran  towards  Washington,  frightening  the 
villagers  as  they  passed  along,  calling  to  them  to  run  for 
their  lives  from  the  foe  behind.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
disgraceful  flights  ever  known  in  history  ;  and  when  it  became 
really  known  what  had  been  done,  the  North  was  indeed 
filled  with  shame  and  despair. 

Here  are  two  little  stories  connected  with  this  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  which  although  not  what  some  people  would  call 
"real  history,"  will  help  you  to  remember  the  battle. 

Several    dwelling-houses    stood  within    the    limits  of  the 


44  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

place  where  the  fight  was  hottest,  among  them  the  house  of 
Mrs.  Judith  Henry.  Not  sus-pectirg  that  it  was  to  be  the 
scene  of  a  battle,  the  family  remained  in  the  house  until  it 
was  too  late  to  escape.  The  noise  of  the  battle  came  nearer 
and  nearer,  and  soon  cannon-shot  began  to  plow  up  the 
ground  around  the  house.  Mrs.  Henry,  who  was  an  invalid, 
was  carried  by  her  son  and  daughter  to  a  gully,  or  kind  of 
hollow  washed  out  by  running  water,  and  there  the  three 
lay  in  safety  until  the  army  had  passed  by.  Thinking  them 
selves  safe,  the  children  bore  their  aged  mother  to  the  house 
again  ;  but  the  Union  troops  were  driven  back,  and  the  fight 
again  raged  so  hotly  around  them  that  it  was  impossible  to 
leave.  The  old  lady  lay  there  amid  all  the  remaining  terrors 
of  the  day;  the  house  was  riddled  with  balls,  and  Avhen  the 
tide  of  battle  had  rolled  on,  she  was  found  so  badly  wounded 
that  she  died  soon  after. 


JJDDY,     TH£ 

One  of  the  saddest  stories  of  the  war  is  the  story  of  Little 
Eddy,  the  Drummer  Boy. 

His  father,  a  Union  man  of  East  Tennessee,  had  been 
killed,  and  his  mother  had  gone  to  St.  Louis  with  Eddy, 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  45 

then  about  twelve  years  old,  in  hope  of  finding  a  sister  who 
lived  there.  Failing  in  this,  and  getting  out  of  money,  she 
applied  to  the  captain  of  one  of  the  companies  in  the  Iowa 
First  to  get  Eddy  a  position  as  drummer  boy.  The  regi 
ment  had  only  six  weeks  longer  to  serve,  and  she  hop^d 
that  during  that  time  she  might  get  work  for  herself  and 
find  her  sister.  The  captain  was  about  to  say  that  he  could 
not  take  so  small  ;:  boy,  when  Eddy  spoke  out,  "  Don't  be 
afraid,  captain,  I  can  drum." 

Upon  this,  the  captain  replied,  with  a  smile,  "  Well, 
well,  sergeant,  bring  the  drum,  and  order  the  fifer  to  come 
forward." 

The  fifer,  a  lank,  round-shouldered  fellow,  more  than  six 
feet  high,  came  forward,  and  bending  down  with  his  hands 
on  his  knees,  asked,  "My  little  man,  can  you  drum?" 

"  Yes,  sir,'*  said  Eddie,  "  I  drummed  for  Captain  Hill  in 
Tennessee." 

The  fifer  straightened  himself  up  and  played  one  of  the 
most  difficult  tunes  to  follow  with  the  drum  ;  but  Eddy  kept 
pace  with  him  through  all  the  hardest  parts  and  showed  that 
he  was  a  master  of  the  drum. 

"  Madam,  I  will  take  your  boy,"  said  the  captain  *«  What 
is  his  name  ?  " 

11  Edward  Lee,"  she  replied,  wiping  a  tear  from  her  eye. 
66  Oh  !  captain,  if  he  is  not  killed,  you  will  bring  him  b*u>k 
with  you ,  won't  you  ?  " 


46  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

"  Yes,  we'll  be  sure  to  bring  him  back.  We  shall  be  dis 
charged  in  six  weeks." 

O 

Eddy  became  a  great  favorite  with  the  soldiers ;  and  the 
tall,  lank  fifer  used  often  to  carry  him  "  pick-a-back"  over 
the  hard  roads  and  muddy  places. 

After  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek,  little  Eddy  could  not 
be  found.  By  and  by  the  corporal,  who  had  been  searching 
for  him,  heard  the  sound  of  his  drum  not  far  away. 

The  company  was  to  march  away  in  a  very  few  minutes, 
but  not  liking  to  leave  the  little  fellow,  the  corporal  went 
to  find  him. 

He  found  him  sitting  up  against  a  tree,  looking  deadly 
pale. 

"  O  corporal,  I  am  so  glad  you  came!  Do  give  me  a 
drink  of  water !  You  don't  think  I'll  die,  do  you?  That 
man  lying  there  said  the  doctor  would  cure  my  feet." 

Poor  little  Eddy  !  both  feet  had  been  shot  off  by  a  cannon 
ball.  Looking  around,  the  corporal  found  a  Confederate 
soldier  lying  dead  not  far  from  Eddy.  He,  poor  soldier, 
although  he  was  himself  dying,  had  crept  up  to  Eddy  and 
tried  to  bandage  the  little  boy's  feet. 

While  Eddy  was  telling  the  story,  a  Confederate  officer 
came  up  and  took  the  corporal  and  his  little  friend  prisoners. 

Very  tenderly  the  officer  lifted  Eddy  upon  the  horse 
before  him,  and  started  for  the  camp ;  but  before  they 
reached  it,  the  little  drummer  boy  was  dead. 


TENTING  ON  THE  OLD  CAMP  GROUND.    47 

1.  We  're  tent-ing  to-night  on  the  old  Camp  ground, Give  us  a  song  to 

2.  We  've  been  tenting  to-night  on  the  old  Camp  ground, Thinking  of  days  gone 

3.  We       are  tired  of  war  on  the  old  Camp  ground, Many  are  dead  and 

4.  We  've  been  lighting  to-day    on  the  old  Camp  ground, Many  are  ly-ing 


-&- 

cheer. 

by, 

gone, 
near; 


"   I/      \>  b   \>    „ 

Our      wea  -  ry    hearts,  a    song      of    home,  And 
Of  the  lov'd  ones  at  home  that  gave  us  the  hand.  And  the 
Of  the  brave  and  true  who 've  left  their  homes,  Oth - 
Some     are   dead,  and   some    are      dy   -  ing,     Ma- 
CHORUS. 


friends  we  love  so  dear.      Many  are  the  hearts  that  are  weary  to-night, 
tear  that  said  "good-bye !" 
ers  been  wounded  long, 
ny        are    in  tears. 


Wishing  for  the  war  to  cease, Many  arc  the  hearts",looking  for  the  right, To 


~t^~r — v 

see      the  dawn  of  peace.  Tent-ing   to-night,   tent-ing    to-night, 


Tent-ing  on  the  old  Camp  ground, Dying    on    the  old  Camp  ground. 


48 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


COTTON 


After    this    defeat    of  the  Unioii 
forces,  the  South  was  in  high  spirits 
They  thought  the  war  was  as  good 
as  ended  in  this  one  battle  ;  but  they 
did  not  know,  as  well  as  they 
did    later,    what   the  North 
erners    were    made    of,    if 
they    imagined    one   defeat 
would  make  them  give  up 
the  "  Union." 

These     soldiers,    who    had 
enlisted  only  for  three  months, 

GEN.  G.  B.  MCCLELLAN.  were     now,     many     of    them 

going  home  ;  but  other  troops  were  pouring  in  from 
every  town  and  village  of  the  North.  The  North  was 
indeed  awake  now.  Now  a  great  army  was  raised, 
and  put  under  the  charge  of  General  McClellan,  one  of  the 
finest  military  officers  of  the  war.  He  very  soon  got  his 
army  into  such  fine  order  that  they  moved  about  as  if  they 
had  been  brought  up,  every  one,  from  babyhood,  in  battle 
lines.  This  army  was  called  the  "  Army  of  the  Potomac." 
The  only  fault  that  was  ever  found  with  this  army  was  that 
all  this  long  fall  and  winter  the  army  lay  idle,  except  for  two 
or  three  little  battles  of  no  great  importance. 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  49 

Every  evening,  as  the  Northerner  sat  down  to  read  his 
evening  paper,  he  read,  "All  quiet  along  the  Potomac.'' 
This  was  well  enough  for  a  time  ;  but  as  week  after  week 
passed,  the  North  began  to  complain.  Still,  all  remaided 
"quiet  along  the  Potomac  " — until  at  last  the  very  sound  of 
the  sentence  came  to  excite  indignation  and  anger  among  the 
waiting  Northerners. 


PICKET    CJUARD, 


"  All  quiet  along  the  Potomac,"  they  say, 

"  Except  now  and  then  a  stray  picket 
Is  shot,  as  he  walks  on  his  beat  to  and  fro, 

By  a  rifleman  hid  in  the  thicket. 
'Tis  nothing  ;    a  private  or  two  now  and  then 

Will  not  count  in  the  news  of  the  battle 
Not  an  officer  lost  —  only  one  of  the  men, 

Moaning  out  all  alone  the  death-rattle." 

All  quiet  along  the  Potomac  to-night, 

Where  the  soldieis  lie  peacefully  dreaming  ; 

Their  tents  in  the  rays  of  the  clear  autumn  moon, 
Or  the  light  of  the  watch-fires  are  gleaming. 

A  tremulous  sigh,  as  the  gentle  night-wind, 


50  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

Thro'  the  forest  leaves  softly  is  creeping ; 
While  stars  up  above,  with  their  glittering  eyes, 
Keep  guard  —  for  the  army  is  sleeping. 

There's  only  the  sound  of  the  lone  sentry's  tread 

As  lie  tramps  from  the  rock  to  the  fountain, 
And  lie  thinks  of  the  two  in  the  lone  trundle  bed, 

Far  away  in  the  cot  in  the  mountain. 
His  musket  falls  slack ;  his  face  dark  and  grim, 

Grows  gentle  with  memories  tender, 
As  he  mutters  a  prayer  for  the  children  asleep, 

For  their  mother  —  may  heaven  defend  her  ! 

He  passes  the  fountain,  the  blasted  pine-tree  — 

The  footstep  is  lagging  and  weary ; 
Yet  onward  he  goes  through  the  broad  belt  of  light 

Toward  the  shades  of  the  forest  so  dreary. 
Hark  !  was  it  the  night  wind  that  rustled  the  leaves  ? 

Was  it  moonlight  so  wondrously  flashing? 
It  looks  like  a  rifle  !      "  Ha,  Mary,  good-by  !  " 

And  the  life-blood  is  ebbing  and  plashing. 

All  quiet  along  the  Potomac  to-night  — 

No  sound  save  the  rush  of  the  river ; 
While  soft  falls  the  dew  on  the  face  of  the  dead, 

The  picket's  off  duty  forever. 

—  E.  E.  BEERS. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  51 

J3EA 


But  while  this  army  is  keeping  so  "  quiet  along  the  Poto 
mac,"  let  us  take  a  run  out  into  the  ocean,  and  see  what  the 
United  States  Navy  is  doing  all  this  time. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  President  had  ordered 
that  all  Southern  ports  be  blockaded.  This  was  very  nec 
essary,  in  order  to  cut  off  trade  between  these  ports  and 
foreign  countries.  You  can  see  how  impossible  it  would  be 
to  starve  out  a  prisoner  if  some  one  all  the  while  were 
bringing  supplies  ;  so  with  the  Southerners,  —  the  quicker 
and  more  wholly  they  were  cut  off  from  all  help,  the  quicker 
they  must  give  way,  and  the  sooner  would  the  war  end. 
Several  vessels  were  sent  to  thes  different  ports  to  blockade 
them  ;  that  is^  to  keep  any  vessel  from  going  in  or  coming 
out.  One  fleet  was  sent  to  the  Sea  Islands,  a  group  of 
islands  south  of  South  Carolina,  that  State  which  had  begun 
the  war  against  the  Union.  These  islands  produce  the  very 
finest  cotton  in  the  world.  It  is  known  in  the  cotton-mar 
kets  all  over  the  world  as  the  ''sea-island  cotton."  You  can 
see  now  why  it  was  important  to  get  possession  of  these 
islands  ;  at  any  rate,  why  it  was  important  to  shut  them  off 
from  foreign  trade. 

The  flag-ship  in  this  fleet  was  called  the  "  Wabash." 
Behind  her  were  forty-eight  gun-boats  and  steamers,  and 
twenty-six  sailing  vessels.  Quite  a  fleet,  compared  Avith 
that  of  1812. 


52  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

The  commander  formed  his  fleet  into  a  big  circle,  and 
began  to  steam  round  and  round  between  two  important  forts, 
all  keeping  up  a  steady  fire  as  they  passed  round.  Round 
and  round  they  went,  worrying  the  two  foils  on  all  sides, 
until  they  gave  way — and  the  richest  lands  of  the  South  were 
in  the  hands  of  Union  vessels. 

The  owners  took  to  flight,  burning  their  stored  cotton  as 
they  went,  determined  that  not  one  shred  of  it  should  fall 
into  Yankee  hands. 

The  negro  slaves  did  not  flee.  They  came  down  to  the 
water  side  as  the  vessels  drew  near,— some  of  them  with  the 
few  little  things  they  owned  tied  up  in  little  bundles, —  and 
begged  to  be  taken  away  to  the  land  of  freedom. 

In  a  few  months,  great  changes  were  seen  on  these  sea 
islands.  The  Yankees  were  busy  learning  to  raise  cotton, 
and  everywhere  were  schools  and  teachers  for  these  black 
people.  '  Think  of  it !  schools  for  the  negroes  !  Why,  the 
Southerners  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  educating  their 
cows  as  of  educating  their  slaves. 


]3EI2;URE    OF    fJV(A£ON    AJMD 

The  president  of  the  Confederacy,  Jefferson  Davis,  was 
anxiou$ftto  get  letters  to  France  and  England,  asking  them 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  53 

for  help.  Of  course,  with  the  ports  blockaded,  it  was  almost 
impossible  for  any  one  to  get  away.  But  some  way,  two 
men,  Mason  and  Slidell,  did  "  run  the  blockade,"  went  to 
Havana,  and  from  there  boarded  an  English  vessel. 

A  Union  sea- captain  had  heard  of  the  departure  of  these 
two  men,  and,  thinking  they  Avere  up  to  mischief,  watched 
them.  When  he  found  they  had  gone  on  board  this  English 
vessel,  bound  for  England,  he  followed,  came  up  with  the 
English  vessel,  boarded  her,  and  took  Mason  and  Slidell 
prisoners  as  traitors  to  their  country. 

At  first  it  seemed  a  very  fortunate  thing  to  have  kept  these 
two  men  iYom  going  to  France  and  England  with  their  letters 
asking  for  help  ;  and  the  whole  North  was  delighted.  No 
one  once  thought  that  the  English  government  had  now  a 
chance  to  say,  "  You  have  done  to  one  of  our  vessels  just 
what  you  waged  war  with  us  for  doing  in  1812.  Have  you 
forgotten  that  it  was  because  of  our  taking  men  from  your 
vessels  that  that  war  was  brought  about?  Why  can  we  not 
wage  war  upon  you  now  for  having  done  the  same  thing?  " 

No  one  thought  of  this ;  but  England  thought  of  it,  and 
said  it,  too,  very  soon.  She  demanded,  too,  that  the  two 
men  taken  from  her  vessels  be  returned. 

Some  Northerners  were  at  first  inclined  to  stand  by  their 
deed  ;  but  there  was  an  honest  man  at  the  head  of  the  Gov 
ernment  all  this  time,  you  know,  and  he  said,  "  It  does  seem 
a  pity  to  let  these  men  go ;  but  England  is  right,  and  it  is 


54 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


our  duty,  not  only  to  return  the  men,  but  to  make  an  apology 
for  taking  them." 

And  when  the  people  thought  it  over,  they  owned  that 
England  was  right,  and  the  two  men  were  returned. 

This  was  a  good,  honest,  straightforward  way  to  do,  and 
I'm  sure  England  and  France  both  thought  so,  and  respected 
the  North  for  it.  At  any  rate,  the  two  men  had  no  sort  of 
success  in  either  country,  and  the  South  was  disappointed 
and  disgusted  with  the  whole  affair. 


THE     <MEF(RIMAC     A^fD    THE 

During  the  second  year  of  the  war,  there  appeared  in  the 
ocean  not  far  from  Fortress  Monroe,  a  strange  looking 
monster.  Big,  and  black,  and  shining — what  do  you  suppose 
it  was? 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  55 

It  was  an  iron-chid  war  vessel  which  had  once  belonged  to 
the  United  States  Navy.  The  Confederates  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war  had  sunk  this  vessel  in  the  harbor  ;  but  afterwards 
some  one  had  thought  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  raise  the 
hulk,  and  fit  it  up  for  a  fighter. 

They  found,  on  raising  this  hulk,  that  it  was  firm  and 
strong ;  so  they  had  put  a  great  iron  roof  over  the  deck, 
slanting  it  so  that  balls  would  glance  off  and  so  do  no  harm, 
had  plated  her  sides  all  over  with  iron,  and  put  on  a  great 
beak  of  iron  and  wood,  making  her  indeed  a  most  terrible 
looking  enemy. 

Down  came  this  iron  vessel  straight  upon  the  good  old 
"  Cumberland."  Of  course,  no  wooden  vessel  could  stand 
an  attack  from  this  iron  monster.  For  two  hours  these  two 
vessels  fought,  although  the  Cumberland  knew  there  was  no 
hope.  Bang  went  the  cruel  iron  beak  into  the  sides  of  the 
wooden  Cumberland ;  and  at  last  she  sank,  carrying  with  her 
her  brave  commander  and  his  men,  every  one  of  whom 
fought  to  the  last,  preferring  to  sink  rather  than  surrender 
to  a  Confederate  ship. 

Even  when  the  vessel  had  sunk,  it  is  said  that  the  flag  still 
doated  above  the  waves  for  many  hours. 

Without  a  moment's  rest,  this  iron  fiend  turned  upon 
another  Union  vessel,  and  soon  she,  too,  was  a  wreck.  Ok 
went  the  Merrimac,  attacking  other  vessels,  until  foitunately 
night  came  on  and  put  a  stop  to  this  day's  work  :  hen  she 


56  AMERICA  HISTORY  STORIES. 

withdrew,  to  rest  a  while,  chuckling  no  doubt  over  her  day's 
doings,  and  planning  all  sorts  of  wickedness  for  the  coining 
day.  But  to  her  great  surprise,  when  the  sun  rose  on  the 
following  morning,  there  stood  not  far  away,  a  funny  look 
ing  little  vessel,  dressed  in  fire-proof  coat  just  like  her  own. 

The  Merrimac  glared  from  all  her  port-holes  at  this  funny 
looking  affair,  and  for  a  time  couldn't  seem  to  get  it  through 
her  stupid  head  what  it  was.  It  looked  like  an  iron  raft 
with  a  round  iron  box  in  the  middle. 

What  in  the  world  that  box  could  be,  and  what  could  be 
inside  the  box  wore  a  wonder  to  the  Merrimac. 

"  Does  that  little  Yankee  cheese-box  on  a  raft  think  to 
fight  with  me?"  said  the  Merrimac,  puffed  up  with  her 
yesterday's  victories. 

But  the  Merrimac  did  not  know  that  that  cheese-box 
could  revolve  on  a  big  screw,  and  that  it  had  within  itself 
some  terrible  guns  which  could  be  aimed  almost  as  true  as 
a  rifle. 

Up  came  the  little  Monitor,  much  like  a  little  hornet  at  a 
great  bull.  The  Merrimac  really  laughed  to  see  her  coming. 
She  did  look  so  funny  !  But  soon  bang  went  one  of  the  great 
two-hundred  pound  balls  from  that  little  cheese-box,  shaking 
the  Merrimac  and  denting  in  her  iron  sides  as  if  she  had 
been  made  of  tin. 

The  Merrimac  stopped  laughing  now,  and  went  to  work. 
Some  or?  said  that  the  whole  affair  made  him  think  of  the 


AMEPJCAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  57 

boy  David  with  his  little  sling  walking  up  to  fight  the  giant 
Goliah.  But  you  remember  Goliah  was  the  one  to  fall,  and 
in.  this  battle,  too,  the  big  Merrimac  fell  before  the  little 
"  Cheese-box." 

No  matter  what  the  Merrimae  did,  it  seemed  to  harm  the 
Monitor  not  one  whit.  The  balls  from  the  Merrimac  rolled 
from  her  like  raindrops  from  a  duck's  back. 

Next,  the  Merrimac  tried  her  game  of  running  at  her  with 
that  great  iron  beak  ;  but  only  found  herself  all  the  more  at 
the  mercy  of  those  great  guns  turning  round  and  round  in 
the  cheese-box. 

For  four  long  hours  this  battle  went  on.  At  last  the 
Merrimac  quietly  sailed  away,  not  half  understanding  yet 
what  this  little  raft  was,  and  how  it  had  been  able  to  drive 
her  away. 

Cheer  after  cheer  went  up  from  the  vessels  lying  about  in 
the  harbor;  and  there  was  no  cause  for  further  dread  of  the 
Confederate  monster  so  long  as  the  harbor  was  guarded  by 
"  The  Yankee  Cheese-box/' 


THE   LAST   BROADSIDE. 

Shall  we  give  them  a  broadside,  my  boys,  as  she  goes  ? 

Shall  we  send  yet  another  to  tell, 
In  iron-tongued  words,  to  Columbia's  foes, 

H~>w  bravely  her  sons  say  Farewell  ? 


58  AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES. 

Ay !  what  though  we  sink  'neath  the  turbulent  wave, 

Tis  with  DUTY  and  RIGHT  at  the  helm ; 
And  over  the  form  should  the  fierce  waters  rave, 

No  tide  can  the  spi'it  o'erwhelm! 

For  swift  o'er  the  billows  of  Charon's  dark  stream 

We'll  pass  to  the  immortal  shore, 
Where  the  waters  of  life  in  brilliancy  beam, 

And  the  pure  float  in  peace  evermore. 

"  Shall  we  give  them  a  broadside  once  more,  my  brave  men? 

"  Ay  !     Ay  !  "  was  the  full,  earnest  cry  ; 
"  A  broadside !     A  broadside  !  we'll  give  them  again ! 

Then  for  God  and  the  Right  nobly  die  !  " 

"  Haste  !     Haste  !  "  —  for  amid  all  that  battling  din 

Comes  a  gurgling  sound  fraught  with  fear, 
As  swift  flowing  waters  pour  rushingly  in  ; 

Up  !  up  !  till  her  port-holes  they  near. 

No  blanching  !  —  no  faltering !  —  still  fearless  all  seem  ; 

Each  man  firm  to  duty  doth  bide  ; 
A  flash!  and  a  "  broadside  !  "  a  shout  !  a  careen  ! 

And  the  Cumberland  sinks  'neath  the  tide ! 

The  "  Star-Spangled  Banner  "  still  floating  above ! 

As  a  beacon  upon  the  dark  wave  ! 
Our  Ensign  of  Glory,  proud  streaming  in  love, 

O'er  the  tomb  of  the  "  Loyal  and  Brave !  " 

Bold  hearts !  mighty  spirits  !  "  tried  gold  "  of  our  land  ! 

A  halo  of  glory  your  meed  ! 
All  honored,  the  noble-souled  Cumberland  band ! 

So  true  in  Columbia's  need  ! 

—  Elizabeth  T.  P.  Beach. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STOKIES.  59 

rLE    OF    <]V[lLL    jSPFUNQ— -1862. 

In  the  battle  of  Mill  Spring,  the  Confederates  were  put 
to  flight  by  the  Yankees. 

One  gentleman,  whose  slave  had  been  sent  with  the  Con 
federates  into  this  battle,  was  questioning  Sambo  about  what 
he  had  seen.  Oftentimes  those  negroes  were  much  brighter 
than  their  masters  gave  them  credit  for  being. 

"  Well,  Sambo,  how  long  did  it  take  you  to  march  to  the 
battle-field  ?  " 

"  'Bout  four  days,  massa,"  was  the  reply. 

"  That  was  pretty  good  marching,  I'm  sure.  How  long 
did  it  take  you  to  march  back?  " 

"  'Bout  two  days,  massa." 

"  Only  two  days  !  why,  that's  strange.  I  shouldn't  suppose 
soldiers  after  a  long  battle  could  march  faster  than  before 
it." 

"  Dunno  nuffin  'bout  dat,  massa  ;  but  I  speck  the  music 
make  de  difference.  You  see,  we  inarched  there  to  the  tune 
of  Dixie ;  but  we  come  back  to  tune  of  Fire  !  fire  !  fire  ! 
Run  boys  !  Run  !  " 


ORT 


Among  the  wounded  in  Fort  Henry  was  a  young  Wiscon 
sin  boy,  a  prisoner,  who  had  his  arm  shattered  by  a  ball  from 
one  of  the  gunboats.  He  was  taken  into  one  of  the  cabins 
and  a  Confederate  surgeon  began  to  operate  upon  the  injured 


60  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

limb.  He  had  just  bared  the  bone  when  a  large  shell  came 
crashing  through  the  hut.  The  little  fellow  kept  on  talking 
while  the  bone  was  being  sawed,  without  showing  the  least 
fear.  Soon  another  shot  went  by  them. 

"This  is  getting  too  hot  for  me,"  said  the  doctor,  and 
taking  the  boy  up  in  his  arms  he  carried  him  into  one  of  the 
bomb-proofs,  where  he  finished  the  work. 

"  If  you  think  this  hot,"  replied  the  boy,  "  it  will  be  a 
good  deal  too  hot  for  you  by  and  by." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  the  doctor  afterwards,  "  I  should  like  to  see 
that  boy  again.  He  was  the  bravest  little  fellow  I  ever  saw." 


T/^KINQ  OF 

Let  us  take  a  run  over  into  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
and  see  what  is  going  on  there. 

Columbus,  at  the  western  end  of  the  Confederate  lines, 
and  Bowling  Green  at  the  eastern  end,  together  with  two 
strong  forts,  Donelson  and  Henry,  made  for  the  Confed 
erates  a  centre  that  seemed  almost  too  strong  to  be  taken. 
The  Confederates  delighted  to  speak  of  this  as  their  "  Gib 
raltar,"  that  is  their  stronghold. 

But  Grant,  you  all  know  who  Grant  was — was  not  to  be 
frightened  even  by  this.  "  It  looked  risky,"  he  used  to  say  ; 
"  but  if  we  can  get  hold  of  these  forts  and  these  cities  and 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


61 


break  up  this  Confederate 
stronghold,  think  what  a  gain 
it  will  be!" 

When    Grant  had    his  plans 
all  arranged,  he  gave  them  to 
his    chief,    and    waited 
eagerly    for    permission 
to  go  on.     After  a  long 
lelay,  permission  came. 
Fort     Henry,     being 
the  weakest  point,  was 
to  be  attacked  first. 
GEN.  u.  s.  GRANT.  "You,     Commodore 

Foote,  will  take  your  men  down  the  Tennessee  River  in 
gun-boats,  and  will  pepper  the  fort  from  that  point.  When 
Fort  Henry  is  settled,  then  comes  Donelson." 

Foote  did  pepper  Fort  Henry  well ;  and  in  just  one  hour 
and  five  minutes  the  fort  surrendered. 

Six  days  later,  Grant  turned  toward  Fort  Donelson. 
Spreading  his  forces  out  in  a  sort  of  half  circle,  he  thus 
approached  the  fort.  Grant  made  up  his  mind  that  the  way 
to  get  hold  of  this  fort  would  be  to  lay  siege  to  it,  rather 
than  to  try  to  bring  about  a  battle. 

But  the  Confederate  officers  knew  only  too  well  that  they 
could  not  hold  out  against  a  siege,  and  so  thought  it  best  to 
give  battle  at  once.  The  very  next  morning  they  came  out 
and  fell  upon  the  right  wing  of  Grant's  army.  Grant  him- 


02  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

self  was  down  the  river  when  the  attack  began ;  up  he 
trnlloped  to  the  scene  of  battle  in  a  "  double  quick  "  run  you 
may  be  sure. 

"  They  have  come  out  prepared  to  fight  for  several  days, 
General,"  said  one  of  the  soldiers, 

"  Why  do  you  think  so?  "  asked  Grant. 

<e  Because  they  have  their  haversacks  filled  with  rations," 
was  the  reply. 

"  Get  me  one  of  those  haversacks,"  said  Grant  quickly. 

One  was  brought.  Grant  examined  it  carefully,  and  saw 
that  it  was  rationed  for  three  days. 

"  This  means  retreat,  retreat,  boys,"  cried  Grant.  "  Sol 
diers  don't  fill  their  haversacks  like  this  unless  they  are  plan 
ning  to  run  away.  Now  then,  one  more  sharp  attack,  and 
we'll  finish  the  fight !  " 

The  men,  cheered  by  Grant's  hopefulness,  fell  upon  the 
enemy  hot  and  heavy.  With  one  grand  push,  the  whole  line 
made  the  attack.  The  fight  grew  hotter  and  hotter.  Over 
the  snow-covered  ground  everywhere  ran  streams  of  blood. 
Everywhere  lay  the  dead  and  wounded.  Darkness  came  on 
at  last,  thank  God,  and  this  awful  slaughter  was  at  an  end. 

The  enemy  were  driven  within  their  own  lines.  "One  more 
hour  of  fighting,"  said  Grant,  "  and  the  fort  will  be  ours." 

Inside  the  fort  two  of  the  generals  were  packing  up  to  get 
away  before  daylight.  When  morning  dawned,  General 
Buckner  sent  out  to  ask  Grant  on  what  terms  he  would  be 
willing  to  accept  their  surrender. 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  63 

44  Unconditional  surrender,"  said  Grant,  "are  my  only 
terms."  By  that  he  meant  that  they  should  surrender 
wholly,  give  up  themselves  and  all  they  had,  or  he  would 
fight  them  again  and  make  them  surrender. 

o  o 

General  Buckner  had  little  to  say.  He  knew  only  too 
well  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  surrender. 

Grant's  army  marched  in  and  took  the  fort. 

On  the  same  day  the  commander  at  Bowling  Green  saw 
fit  to  get  his  forces  out  of  the  way ;  and  a  few  days  later  the 
commander  at  Columbus  did  the  same.  They  knew  very 
well  that  with  both  forts  lost,  the  cities,  too,  would  have  to 
go.  Even  in  the  capital  of  the  State,  the  governor  packed 
his  valuable  papers  and  ran  as  if  from  a  fire. 

The  great  Confederate  stronghold  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  Union  troops.  Great  was  the  rejoicing  in  the 
Northern  States.  "  Unconditional  surrender  !  "  came  to  be 
the  "  by-word  "  in  every  city  and  town  ;  and  Grant  came  to 
be  called  "Unconditional  Surrender  Grant." 

This  must  be  what  his  initials  "  U.  S."  mean,  the  people 
said  in  their  joy.  And  to  this  day,  no  soldier  hears  of 
U.  S.  Grant  without  thinking  of  "  Unconditional  Surrender." 


^   PLUCKY    |}OY   AT   ]?ORT 

A  story  is  told  of  a  little  boy  about  eleven  years  old, 
whose  father,  a  Union  vo'unteer,  had  been  taken  prisoner 
some  time  before. 


64  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

Having  no  mother,  and  no  one  to  care  for  him,  he  made 
up  his  mind  that  he  would  go  to  fight  his  father's  captors. 
So  he  smuggled  himself  on  board  of  a  boat  laden  with  troops 
for  the  attack  on  Donelson.  When  the  troops  marched 
from  Fort  Henry,  he  joined  the  Seventy-eighth  Ohio  and 
trudged  along  with  the  rest.  One  of  the  officers  questioned 
him  and  tried  to  turn  him  back,  but  he  would  not  go. 

On  the  field  of  battle  he  succeeded  in  getting  a  musket, 
and  posting  himself  behind  a  tree  fired  at  every  head  he  saw 
above  the  enemy's  breastwork.  The  Confederate  shnrp- 
shooters  tried  hard  to  drive  him  away,  but  he  kept  himself 
well  hidden  all  the  time. 

At  last  a  Confederate  soldier  on  the  outside  of  the  breast 
work  took  good  aim  at  him,  but  the  little  fellow  was  too 
quick  and  brought  him  down  with  a  shot  from  his  musket, 
Knowing  that  the  dead  Confederate  had  a  fine  Minie  rifle,  the 
boy  ran  out,  while  the  bullets  wero  flying  in  all  directions, 
and  took  from  the  soldier  his  rifle,  cartouch  and  knapsack. 
Retreating  in  safety  to  his  tree,  he  returned  to  the  Seventy- 
eighth  at  night  with  all  his  prizes. 


JHE    BATTLE   OF   £HILOH. 

After  the  fall  of  Donelson,  the  Confederates  had  gone  down 
the    river  to   Corinth.     Here  Beauregard   and    other   com- 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  65 

manders  came  with  troops  until  there  were  forty  thousand 
of  them. 

Grant  had  been  closely  following,  and  had  halted  at  a 
place  about  twenty  miles  from  Corinth.  There  had  been 
some  rumor  that  the  Confederates  were  about  to  attack  the 
Union  soldiers,  but  this  did  not  seem  probable  ;  and,  hourly 
expecting  more  troops,  the  Union  army  was  quietly  sleep- 
in^,  :ill  unconscious  of  the  terrible  day  to  come.  But  all 
this  time,  the  Confederates,  forty  thousand  strong,  were 
hidden  in  the  forests  all  about,  only  waiting  for  daylight  to 
begin  their  bloody  work. 

At  daybreak,  the  Union  soldiers  of  one  camp  were  aroused 
by  yells  from  the  enemy.  In  a  moment  all  was  hurry  and 
flurry.  The  news  spread  from  camp  to  camp.  Grant,  who 
had  the  day  before  gone  to  a  town  near  by  for  food  for  his 
army,  heard  the  firing,  and  galloped  to  the  battle  grounds. 
Knowing  that  troops  were  coming  to  his  aid,  and  could  not 
be  far  away,  he  sent  messengers  post  haste  to  hurry  them 
up.  If  only  they  could  hold  out  till  help  came,  Grant  was 
sure  they  yet  might  win. 

The  aim  of  the  Confederates  was  to  drive  the  Unionists 
down  to  the  river,  where,  as  there  were  no  boats,  they  must 
either  surrender  or  drown.  Beauregard,  the  plucky  little 
black-eyed  general  with  the  white  hair,  you  remember,  kept 
driving  up  and  down  his  lines,  crying,  "  Drive  the  Yankees 
into  the  river  !  drive  the  Yankees  into  the  river  !  " 


66  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

All  day  long  this  terrible  battle  raged ;  but  when  darkness 
fell,  Beauregard  gave  orders  for  his  men  to  rest  till  morning. 
A  fortunate  thing  was  this  for  the  Union  soldiers ,  for  had 
he  kept  up  the  fight,  he  might  indeed  have  driven  the 
Yankees  into  the  river. 

Beauregard  instead,  however,  withdrew  to  his  tent,  and 
there  spent  the  night  writing  a  full  account  of  the  brilliant 
victory  so  sure  to  come  in  the  early  morning. 

But  alas  for  his  pretty  plan  !  even  while  he  was  writing, 
the  looked-for  troops  had  arrived  in  Grant's  camp.  And 
when  the  morning  sun  arose,  it  looked  upon  the  Union 
soldiers,  fifty  thousand  strong,  drawn  up  in  battle  array, 
ready  to  renew  the  fight. 

It  was  plain  enough  what  the  end  must  be.  But  Beaure 
gard  was  no  coward.  He  made  a  brave  show  of  fighting, 
although  he  knew  he  was  being  driven  back  with  every  charge. 
At  noon,  he  ordered  his  forces  to  retreat,  and  soon  the  Union 
dag  was  waving  over  the  "  Battle-field  of  Shilok." 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  67 

QLD    ^ERQEANT, 

BATTLE    OF    SHILOH    (PITTSBURG  LANDING)  ,  TENN. 

"  Come  a  little  nearer,  Doctor, —  thank  you, —  let  me    take    the 

cup  ; 

Draw  your  chair  up, —  draw  it  closer, —  just  another  little  sup  ! 
Maybe  you  may  think  I'm  better ;     but  I'm    pretty   well   used 

up,— 
Doctor,  you've  done  all  you  could  do,  but  I'm  just  agoing  up ! 

11  Feel  my  pulse,  sir,  if  you  want  to,    but  it  ain't  much    use   to 

try"- 

"  Never  say  that,"  said  the  surgeon,  as  he  smothered  down  a  sigh  ; 
"  It  will  never  do,  old  comrade,  for  a  soldier  to  say  die  !  " 
"  What  you  say  will  made  no  difference,  Doctor,  when  you  come 

to  die. 

"  Doctor,  what  has  been  the  matter?  "      "  You  were  very    faint, 

they  say  ; 
You  must  try  to  get  to  sleep  now."     "  Doctor,  have    I   been 

away  ?  " 
"  Not  that  anybody  knows  of  !  "      "  Doctor, —  Doctor,  please  to 

stay  ! 

There  is  something  I  must  tell  you,  and  you  won't  have  long  to 
stay  ! 

4'  I  have  got  my  marching  orders,  and  I'm  ready  now  to  go  ; 
Doctor,  did  you  say  I  fainted  ?  —  but  it  couldn't  ha  been  so. — 
For  as  sure  as  I'm  a  Sergeant,  and  was  wounded  at  Shiloh, 


68  AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES 

I've  this  very  night  been  back  there,  on  the  old  field  of  Shiloh  ! 

"i  This  is  all  that  I  remember  :     The  last  time  the  Lighter  came, 
And  the  lights  had  all  been  lowered,  and  the    noises    much  the 

same, 
He  had  not  been  gone  five  minutes  before  something  called  my 

name  : 

c  Orderly  Sergeant  —  Robert  P>urton  !  '    —  just  that  way  it  called 
my  name. 

64  And  I  wondered  who  could  call  me  so  distinctly  and  so  slow, 
Knew  it  couldn't  be  the  Lighter,  —  he  could    not  have  spoken 

so, — 

And  I  tried  to  answer,  '  here,  sir !  '  but  I  couldn't  make  it  go ; 
For  I  couldn't  move  a  muscle,  and  I  couldn't  make  it  go  ; 

"  Then  I  thought :  It's  all  a  nightmare,  all  a  humbug  and  a  bore  ; 
Just  another  foolish    grape-vine,  *  —  and  it  won't  come    any 

more  ; 

But  it  came,  sir,  notwithstanding,  just  the  same  way  as  before  : 
4  Orderly    Sergeant  —  Robert     Burton  ! '    -  even    plainer  than 
before. 

"  That  is  all  that  I  remember,  till  a  sudden  burst  of  light, 

And  I  stood  beside  the  river,  where  we    stood    that    Sunday 

night, 

Waiting  to  be  ferried  over  to  the  dark  bluffs  opposite, 
When  the  river  was  perdition  and  all  hell  was  opposite ! 


*  Canard. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  69 

"  And  the  same  old  palpitation  came  again  in  a,ll  its  power, 
And  I  heard  a  bugle  sounding  as  from  some  celestial  tower  ; 
And  the  same  mysterious  voice  said  :   '  It  is  the  eleventh  hour  ! 
Orderly  Sergeant  —  Robert  Burton  —  it  is  the  eleventh  hour  !  ' 

"  Doctor  Austin  !  what  day  is  this?  "     "It  is  Wednesday  night, 

you  know." 
"Yes, —  to-morrow  will  be  New  Years,   and  a   right   good   time 

below ! 
What  time  is  it,  Doctor  Austin  ?"     "  Nearly  twelve."     "  Then 

don't  you  go  ! 
Can  it  be  that  all  this  happened  —  all  this  —  not  an  hour  ago ! 

u  There  was  where  the  gunboats  opened  on  the   dark,    rebellious 

host ; 

And  where  Webster  semicircled  his  last  guns  upon  the  coast ; 
There  were  still  the  two  log-houses,  just  the  same,  or  else  their 

ghost,— 
And  the  same  old  transport  came  and  took    me   over, —  or   its 

ghost ! 

"  And  the  old  field  lay  before  me  all  deserted  far  and  wide  ; 
There  was    where    they  fell  on  Prentiss,  — there   McClernand 

met  the  tide  ; 
There  was  where  stern  Sherman  rallied,   and    where  Hurlbut's 

heroes  died, — 
Lower  down,  where  Wallace  charged  them,  and  kept  charging 

till  he  died. 


70  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

"  There  was  where  Lew  Wallace    showed  them  he    was    of   the 

canny  kin, 
There  was  where   old  Nelson    thundered,    and    where    Rosseau 

waded  in  ; 
There  McCook  sent    'em    to  breakfast,  and   we   all   began   tc 

win, — 
There  was  where  the  grape-shot  took  me,  just  as  we  began   to 

win. 

"  Now,  a  shroud  of  snow  and  silence  over  everything  was  spread  ; 
And  but  for  this  old  blue  mantle,  and  the  old  hat  on  my  head, 
1  should  not  have  even  doubted,  to  this  moment  I  was  dead, — 
For  my  footsteps  were  as  silent  as  the  snow  upon  the  dead  ? 

"  Death  and  silence  !  —  Death  and  silence    all   around   me   as   I 

sped ! 

And  behold,  a  mighty  tower,  as  if  builded  to  the  dead. 
To  the  heaven  of  the  heavens  lifted  up  its  mighty  head, 
Till  the  Stars  and  Stripes  of  heaven  all  seemed  waving  from  its 

head ! 

"  Round  and  mighty-based  it  towered, —  up  into  the  infinite, — 
And  I  knew  no  mortal  mason  could  have  built  a  shaft  so  bright ; 
For  it  shone  like  solid  sunshine  ;    and  a  winding-stair  of  light 
Wound  around  it  and  around  it  till  it  wound  clear  out  of  sight ! 

"  And,  behold,  as  I  approached    it,   with    a  wrapt    and  dazzled 

stare, — 
Thinking  that  I  saw  old  comrades  just  ascending  the  great  stair, 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  71 

Suddenly  the  solemn  challenge  broke    of  —  '  Halt,    and  who 

goes  there  ! ' 

'  I'm  a  friend,'  1  said  '  if  you  are.'     '  Then  advance,  sir,  to   the 
stair ! ' 

' '  I  advanced  !     That  sentry,  Doctor,  was  Elijah  Ballantyne  !  — 

First  of  all  to  fall  on  Monday,  after  we  had  formed  the  line  ?  — 
'  Welcome,  my  old  Sergeant,  welcome  !     Welcome  by  that  coun 
tersign  ! ' 
And  he  pointed  to  the  scar  there,  under  this  old  cloak  of  mine  ! 

"  As  he  grasped  my  hand,  I  shuddered,  thinking    only    of    the 

grave ; 
But  he  smiled  and  pointed  upward  with  a  bright  and  bloodless 

glaive  ; 
'  That's  the  way,  sir,  to  head-quarters.'      '  What  head-quarters?  ' 

'Of  the  brave.' 

'  But  the  great  ccwer?  '     'That,'  he  answered,  '  is  the  way,   sir, 
of  the  brave  !  ' 

'c  Then  a  sudden  shame  came  o'er  me,  at  his  uniform  of  light; 

At  my  own  so  old  and  tattered,  and  at  his  so  new  and  bright : 
'  Ah  ! '  said  he,  '  you  have  forgotten  the  new  uniform  to-night, — 
Hurry  back,  "for  you  must  be  here  just  at   twelve    o'clock    to 
night  !  ' 

"  And  the  next  thing  I  remember,  you  were  sitting  there,  and  I  — 
Doctor,  did  you  hear  a  footstep?     Hark  !  —  God  bless  you  all ! 
Good-by! 


72  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

Doctor,  please  to  give  my  musket  and  my  knapsack,  when  Idle, 
To  my  son  —  my  son  that's  coming, —  he  won't  get  here   till  I 
die! 

44  Tell  him  his  old  father  blessed  him  as  he  never  did  before, — . 
And  to  carry  that  old  musket  "    -  Hark !   a  knock    is   at   the 

door ! — 
"Till  the  Union  "    -See  it  opens!      u  Father!     Father!  speak 

once  more  ?  " 
44  Bless  you  !  "  gasped  the  old,  gray  Sergeant,  and    he    lay    and 

said  no  more  ! 

—  FOKOKYTHE  WILSON. 


BROTHER   AQAIN£T    BROTHER, 

It  often  happened  in  the  "  civil  war,"  that  one  in  a  family 
would  fight  on  the  Union  side,  and  another  on  the  Confed 
erate  side  —  each  one  fighting  on  the  side  which  to  him 
seemed  right. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  73 

In  Kentucky,  where  the  people  were  so  divided  in  their 
opinions  of  the  war,  that  one  hardly  could  tell  whether  to 
call  Kentucky  a  Union  State  or  a  Confederate  State,  it  often 
happened  that  own  brothers  would  meet  fighting  face  to  face 
in  battle. 

At  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  during  the  hottest  of  the  strife, 
it  happened  that  two  of  these  Kentucky  regiments  met  and 
fought  each  other  with  the  fury  and  hatred  which  usually 
marks  civil  warfare.  One  of  the  Union  soldiers  happened  to 
wound  and  take  prisoner  his  own  brother;  and  after  handing 
him  to  the  rear,  began  firing  at  a  man  near  a  tree.  "  Hold, 
Bill,"  shouted  his  captured  brother,  "  don't  shoot  there  any 
more  !  That's  father  1 " 


QUAKED 

But  it  is  about  time  to  hear  something  from  that  "  Army 
of  the  Potomac."  You  remember  I  told  you  a  few  pages 
back  that  this  was  a  large,  fresh  army,  sent  from  the 
North.  The  people  expected  great  things  of  this  army, 
and  were  very  impatient  to  see  them  go  to  work. 

For  a  long  time  the  enemy  had  been  holding  that  rail 
road  junction  that  you  heard  of  not  long  ago,  so  that  there 
was  no  way  of  getting  to  Richmond,  the  capital  of  the  Con 
federacy.  I  should  not  have  said  there  was  no  way  of  get 
ting  to  this  city  —  of  course  there  were  ways ;  but  here  was 


74  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

this  railroad  running  straight  to  the  city,  carrying  the  Con 
federates  food  and  clothing  every  day,  and  so  helping  to  keep 
them  able  to  fight  on  and  on  against  their  country.  "  If  only 
this  capital  could  be  taken,  the  war  might  be  as  good  as  end 
ed,"  every  one  said.  In  that  city  were  stored  food  and 
blankets,  guns  and  powder — everything  that  their  army  could 
need.  "Why  doesn't  McClellan  march  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  to  take  it !"  everybody  cried. 

At  last  McClellan  did  move.  He  started  his  army  on  to 
this  junction,  this  stronghold  of  the  Southerners.  The  troops 
marched  on,  expecting,  I  presume,  a  terrible  fight;  but 
imagine  their  surprise  when  on  reaching  there  they  found  it 
empty.  Every  Confederate  had  fled.  More  than  that,  on 
examining  their  camp  they  found  that  the  guns,  those 
terrible  guns,  which  had  been  so  long  frightening  back  the 
Union  Army,  were  just  nothing  in  the  world  but  big  logs, 
their  ends  cut  out  to  look  like  cannon-mouths,  and  painted 
black  !  One  of  them,  even,  was  only  an  old  stove-pipe  !  I 
wonder  which  this  army  felt  the  most — ashamed,  or  amused, 
or  angry  —  that  all  these  weeks  they  had  been  trembling 
before  these  Quaker  guns  ! 

Later,  McClellan  marched  his  forces  upon  Yorktown. 
Here  they  kept  up  a  siege  for  more  than  a  month.  But  one 
morning  it  was  found  that  the  enemy  had  run  away  in  the 
night  in  the  same  way  they  had  run  away  before.  This  time, 


AMERICAN"  HISTORY  STORIES. 


75 


too,  "tfiey  left  nothing  to  pay  the  Union  Army  for  their  long 
work,  except  some  old  guns.  This  Confederate,  General 
Jobiston,  had  a  way  of  retreating  in  this  clever  way;  and 
can?  3  to  be  named  in  time,  the  "  successful  retreater." 


before 
down 


A  long,  long  time  of  defeats  for  the  Union  army  followed. 
The  Confederates  were    getting 
themselves    together     at   Rich 
mond,    thdr     capital.     They 
knew   that    was   their    strong 
hold,   and    supposed    of  course 
the  Union  army  knew  it, 
too,    and     would 
many     days     bear 
upon  them. 

Down  to  the  banks  of 
the  Chickahominy  went 
our   "  Army    of  the  Po 
tomac."     This  river  was 
a  sluggish,  muddy  stream, 
with  swamps  on  every   side. 
The  army  was  set  to  work  GEN.  R.  B.  LEE. 

digging  trenches,  and  throwing  up  banks  of  earth  to  defend 
them  from  the  Confederate  force  in  Richmond.       This  was  a 


76  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

sad,  sad  time.  In  this  damp,  unhealthy  spot,  our  soldiers 
worked  on  day  and  night.  Unused  to  the  climate,  the  men 
began  to  die  as  if  seized  with  a  plague.  Hundreds  and  hun 
dreds  of  them  sank  beneath  the  poison  of  the  place,  and 
every  day  our  "  Army  of  the  Potomac"  grew  smaller  and 
smaller. 

Again  McClellan  stood  still.  Johnston,  the  "  successful 
retreater,"  not  wishing  to  retreat  this  time,  came  out  from 
the  city  and  attacked  McClellan  himself  at  Fair  Oaks. 
Fortune  favored  our  side  in  the  battle,  and  Johnston  was 
made  to  retreat  this  time  into  the  city. 

Johnston  was  wounded  in  this  battle ;  and  so,  unfitted  for 
service,  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  command.  Robert 
Lee  became  the  Confederate  commander  in  his  place. 
McClellan  still  hesitated  to  push  forward  and  his  men  were 
dying  off  in  hundreds. 

Stonewall  Jackson  now  arrived  at  Richmond  and  joined 
his  forces  with  those  of  Lee's. 

McClellan  still  waited,  until  the  enemy  again  came  out  and, 
by  attacking  him,  forced  him  to  act.  Now  began  a  series  of 
battles  called  the  "  Seven  Days'  Battles."  Every  day  for  a 
week  the  two  armies  engaged  in  battle,  and  every  day 
McClellan  ordered  "  retreat,  retreat."  On  the  seventh  day 
the  Union  forces, from  a  high  ridge  of  land,  poured  down 
their  fire  with  such  vigor  and  such  success  that  the  enemy, 
powerful  as  they  were,  were  driven  back  broken  and  con 
fused,  having  lost  greatly  in  dead  and  wounded.  Even  now 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  77. 

it  is  a  mystery,  explained  one  way  by  some,  another  way 
by  others  that  McClellan,  brave  and  well-trained  as  he  was 
should  have  held  his  forces  back  as  he  did  week  after  week, 
apparently  doing  nothing. 

Certainly  he  had  some  reason  for  his  action  (or  lack  of 
action)  whatever  it  was.  Perhaps  some  soldier  who  was  in 
the  war  can  tell  you  all  about  it.  You  and  I  could  hardly 
form  a  just  opinion  regarding  it.  So,  for  now,  let  us  go  on 
and  read  about  a  battle  between  McClellan  and  the  brave 
southern  general  —  Lee. 


JHJE    jSoNQ   OF   THE 


Far  away  in  the  piny  woods, 

Where  the  dews  fall  heavy  and 

damp, 
A  soldier  sat  by  the  smouldering  fire 

And  sang  the  song  of  the  camp. 
'•  It  is  not  to  be  weary  and  worn, 

It  is  not  to  feel  hunger  and  thirst, 
It  is  not  the  forced  march,  nor  the 

terrible  fight, 

That  seems  to  the   soldier    the 
worst ; 

•'  But  to  sit  through  the   comfort 
less  hours, — 


The  lonely,  dull  hours   that  wil. 

come, — 
With  his  head  in  his  hands,  and  his 

eyes  on  the  fire, 
And  his  thoughts  on   visions  of 

home ; 

' '  To  wonder  how  fares  it  with  those 
Who    mingled   so  late  with  his 

life,— 
Is  it  well  with  my   little   children 

three? 

Is  it  well  with  my  sickly  Avife? 
—  J.  E.  M. 


78 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


KEPT    FROfrt    ENTJERINQ 


Having  so  little  success  in  liy- 
trying  to  raise  troops  in  Maryland, 
Lee  next  decided  to  go  over  into 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  There 
he  proposed  to  have  Stonewall 
Jackson  join  his  army,  and  to 
gether  they  would  go  on  to 
very  city  of  New  York. 

Now    it     happened,     as 
Lee's  army  left  Frederick 
on    their    march    through 
Pennsylvania,    some    one    of 
his    generals     accidentally 
dropped     a    paper     in    the 


the 


GEN.  HURNSI..K. 


streets,  upon  which  was  written  the  one  thing  of  all  others 
which  Lee  would  not  for  the  world  have  had  the  Unionists 
find  out.  And  that  was  just  what  General  Lee  had 
planned  to  do  ;  just  the  route  he  intended  to  take  ;  just  how 
he  was  going  to  divide  his  army  5  and  just  where  he  in 
tended  to  bring  them  together  for  battle. 

McClellan  at  once  set  out  in  hot  haste  to  overtake  this 
army.  On  the  16th  of  September,  both  armies  lay  down  to 
sleep  in  the  beautiful,  fertile  valley  of  Antietam,  knowing 


80  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

that  with  the  rising  of  the  sun  must  come  one  of  the  hottest 
contested  battles  of  the  war. 

It  was  along  bloody  battle.  Both  sides  lost,  in  killed  and 
wounded,  large  numbers  ;  but  neither  side  could  be  said  to 
have  won  the  day.  It  was  one  of  those  terrible  battles,  in 
which  both  sides  merely  held  their  places,  seeming,  with  all 
the  bloodshed,  to  gain  nothing.  The  next  morning  was  to 
have  seen  the  battle  renewed ;  but  McClellan,  seized  again 
with  his  over-cautiousness,  waited  and  waited.  The  next 
day,  Lee  escaped  over  the  Potomac.  His  plans  were  all 
broken  up  by  this  battle  with  its  terrible  losses,  and  it 
seemed  at  the  time  as  if  McClellan  might,  if  he  had  made 
one  bold  stroke,  have  done  a  great  deal  more  even  than  that. 

But  McClellan  now  again  waited  and  waited,  although  he 
had  been  ordered  by  Lincoln  to  march  against  the  enemy. 
At  last,  Lincoln  ordered  that  the  command  be  taken  from 
him,  and  given  to  General  Burnside. 

Lee  was  now  encamped  at  Fredericksburg.  Burns ide  at 
once  marched  against  him,  and  attempted  to  take  the  city 
from  him.  A  hot  battle  followed,  but  at  night  Lee  was  still 
in  the  city,  and  the  Union  army  had  again  lost  hundreds  of 
men. 

And  now  the  army  was  led  back  to  the  old  camps. 
There  the  soldiers  built  mud  huts ;  and,  sick  and  wounded, 
their  courage  all  gone,  they  settled  down  for  the  winter. 

This  campaign  in  Virginia  had  been  a  wretched  failure  for 
the  Union  army. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  81 

BARBARA  FRIETCHIE. 

(CONCERT   BEADING.) 

Up  from  the  meadows  rich  with  corn, 
Clear  in  the  cool  September  morn, 

The  cluster'd  spires  of  Frederick  stand, 
Green-wall'd  by  the  hills  of  Maryland. 

Round  about  them  orchards  sweep, 
Apple  and  peach-tree  fruited  deep, 

Fair  as  a  garden  of  the  Lord, 

To  the  eyes  of  the  famish'd  rebel  horde, 

On  that  pleasant  morn  of  the  early  Fall, 
When  Lee  march'd  over  the  mountain  walls 

Over  the  mountains  winding  down, 
Horse  and  foot,  into  Frederick  town. 

Forty  flags  with  their  silver  stars, 
Forty  flags  with  their  crimson  bars, 

Flapp'd  in  the  morning  wind  :  the  sun 
Of  noon  look'd  down,  and  saw  not  one. 

Up  rose  old  Barbara  Frietchie  then, 
Bow'd  with  her  fourscore  years  and  ten ; 

Bravest  of  all  in  Frederick  town, 

She  took  up  the  flag  the  men  haul'd  down 

In  her  attic  window  the  staff  she  set, 
To  show  that  one  heart  was  loyal  yet. 


BARBARA    FKIETCHIE 


\ 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  83 

Up  the  street  came  the  rebel  tread, 
Stonewall  Jackson  riding  ahead. 

Under  his  slouch'd  hat,  left  and  right, 
He  glanced ;  the  old  flag  met  his  sight : 

"  Halt !  " —  the  dust-brown  ranks  stood  fast  j 
"  Fire  !  " —  out  blazed  the  rifle-blast. 

It  shivered  the  window,  pane  and  sash  ; 
It  rent  the  banner  with  seam  and  gash. 

Quick  as  it  fell  from  the  broken  staff 
Dame  Barbara  snatched  the  silken  scarf. 

She  leaned  far  out  on  the  window-sill, 
And  shook  it  forth  with  a  royal  will. 

"  Shoot,  if  you  must,  this  old  gray  head, 
But  spare  your  country's  flag,  "  she  said. 

A  shade  of  sadness,  a  blush  of  shame 
Over  the  face  of  the  leader  came  ; 

"  Who  touches  a  hair  of  yon  gray  head, 
Dies  like  a  dog  !     March  on  !  "  he  said. 

All  day  long  through  Frederick  street 
Sounded  the  tread  of  marching  feet ; 

All  day  long  that  free  flag  tossed 
Over  the  heads  of  the  rebel  host. 


Barbara  Frietchie's  work  is  o'er, 

And  the  rebel  rides  on  his  raids  no  more,, 


84  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


YIRQINIA 

Now  Gen.  Pope  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  an 
army  of  about  50,000,  called  the  "Virginia  Army."  Very 
soon  it  was  plain  to  see  that  Lee  was  planning  to  attack 
Washington.  It  was  bad  enough  that  our  army  had  not 
succeeded  in  taking  the  Confederate  capital ;  but  to  have 
them  take  Washington! — "No,  indeed,"  said  Gen.  Pope. 
"No,  indeed,"  echoed  the  soldiers. 

The  two  armies  met  at  Cedar  Mountain.  Here  followed 
one  of  the  most  ghastly,  most  bloody  battles  of  the  whole 
war.  Both  sides  lost  great  numbers  of  men,  and  neither 
side  can  be  said  to  have  gained  much  over  the  other. 

Soon  more  battles  were  fought,  among  them  another  at 
Bull  Run.  Bull  Run  seemed  an  unlucky  place  for  the 
Unionists.  A  second  time  they  were,  defeated  there,  but 
this  time  there  was  no  shameful  running  away.  At  last, 
Pope's  army,  called  the  "Army  of  Virginia,"  was  ordered  to 
Washington.  They  were  as  broken-spirited  as  McClellan's 
army  had  been. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  Fates  were  against  the  Union  forces. 
Gen.  Pope  had  been  a  hero  in  the  West,  fighting  fiercely, 
full  of  hope  and  daring,  a  terror  to  the  enemy.  Now  all 
.seemed  changed.  Every  attack  had  been  a  failure. 

Now  the  two  armies,  the  "  Army  of  the  Potomac  "  and  the 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  85 

w  Army  of  Virginia, "  were  united  —  Avhat  there  was  left  of 
them — and  Gen.  McClellan  was  again  put  in  command. 

Gen.  McClellan  had  been  a  great  favorite  among  his  men, 
and  when  he  was  again  put  in  command,  it  is  said  his  men 
received  him  with  shouts  of  joy  ;  cheers  for  "  Little  Mac,"  as 
they  called  him,  filled  the  air. 

Gen.  Lee  meantime  was  on  his  way  northward.  First, 
he  meant  to  stir  up  Maryland,  and  find  men  there  to  join 
his  army.  Maryland,  you  remember,  had  not  seceded. 
Still,  Lee  knew  there  were  many  there  who  in  heart  were 
'*  secessionists." 

So  into  that  State  he  marched  to  the  old  southern  tune, 
"  Maryland,  My  Maryland."  It  was  a  beautiful  old  song, 
and  was  often  played  in  the  Confederate  lines,  as  "Rally 
Round  the  Flag,  Boys  "  was  played  in  our  lines. 

Some  way  the  Maryland  people  could  not  be  aroused, 
not  even  by  Lee.  They  refused  to  have  anything  what 
ever  to  do  with  the  war.  I  think  Lee's  army  at  this  time 
would  hardly  have  inspired  any  one  with  a  very  great  desire 
to  join  it.  Successful  though  they  had  been,  they  Avere  a 
wretched  looking  company.  Ragged,  hungry,  hatless  and 
coatless,  often  shoeless.  "Stonewall  Jackson  "  himself,  it 
is  said,  was  so  shabby  and  worn,  that  he  looked  quite  as 
bad  as  his  troops. 

Such  brave  men  as  these  were,  never  shrinking  from  any 
hardship,  ready  to  do  and  to  die,  doesn't  it  seem  a  pity 


86  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

they  were  fighting  in  such  a  wretched  cause  —  fighting  to 
save  a  government,  which  as  they  had  said,  should  have 
the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves  as  the  corner-stone  ? 


CAPTURE    OF   J\(EW    QRLEAN£. 

New  Orleans,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 
was  held  by  the  Confederates.  Because  it  is  at  the  mouth 
of  this  great  river,  you  can  easily  see  it  was  necessary  that 
the  Unionists  should  have  it,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
free  to  go  up  and  down  this  great  river  whenever  they 
chose. 

Said  Gen.  Butler  in  his  usual  direct  way,  "New  Orleans 
should  be  in  our  hands,  New  Orleans  can  be  taken,  and  1 
can  take  it."  There  were  many  reasons  why  it  seemed  a 
doubtful  place  to  attack,  but  Butler  usually  succeeded  in 
whatever  he  set  out  to  do  ;  and,  as  his  men  often  said,  could 
make  his  hearers  believe  "  the  moon  was  made  of  green 
cheese"  if  he  chose. 

Soon  Butler  was  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans.  He  was 
very  careful  to  keep  his  purpose  hidden. 

On  reaching  "  Ship  Island,"  a  low  sandy  island  off  the 
coast  of  Mississippi,  he  found  it  covered  all  over  with  little 


AMERICAN   HISTORY   STORIES.  87 

* 
white    tents.     This    was   the   camp  of  Gen.   Phelps,    who, 

with  6,000  soldiers,  was  eagerly  awaiting  Butler's  coming. 

Here  Butler  was  joined  by  Admiral  Farragut,  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  naval  officers  America  ever  had.  Together 
these  two  men  planned  to  take  New  Orleans.  Now,  this 
city  is  a  Mississippi  sea-port ;  but  it  is  situated  around  the 
corner,  up  the  river  a  few  miles,  and  was  fortified  strongly 
at  every  point.  One  could  not  even  enter  the  river  with 
out  passing  two  forts,  and  then  there  were  many  more  dan 
gerous  points  farther  on.  The  only  way  to  get  to  the  city 
even,  was  either  to  bombard  these  forts  and  make  them 
surrender,  or  else  pass  quietly  by,  letting  the  forts  turn 
their  great  guns  upon  the  vessels  as  they  passed  along. 
Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  was  a  simple  thing  to  do. 

But  danger  or  no  danger,  both  Butler  and  Farragut  were 
determined  to  reach  that  city. 

Farragut  had  forty-eight  vessels  in  all,  and  they  carried 
three  hundred  and  ten  great  <mns. 

o  O 

Some  of  the  vessels  were  covered  over  with  a  heavy  net 
work  of  iron  chains  to  protect  them  from  the  balls  from  the 
forts.  Their  hulks  were  painted  a  dark,  dull  color,  so  that 
they  could  hardly  be  seen  as  they  lay  in  the  dull,  muddy 
colored  river.  Then  great  trees  were  laced  on  the  vessels' 
sides ;  so  covering  them  up,  and  making  them  look  so 
much  like  bits  of  the  forests  on  the  river  banks,  that,  as 
they  stole  up  the  river  in  the  dark  night,  the  soldiers  in  the 


88  AMERICAN  'HISTORY  STORIES. 

<9 

forts  should  not  notice  them  until  they  were  right  upon 
them. 

At  last  all  was  ready ;  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  this  strange-looking  fleet  entered  the  Mississippi. 

The  first  trouble  that  met  them  was  a  fire  boat.  This 
was  a  great  raft,  piled  up  with  wood  which  had  been  soaked 
with  oil.  This  was  to  be  pushed  up  close  to  some  Union 
vessel,  to  set  it  on  fire.  Of  course  such  a  fire  as  that  oiled 
wood  would  make,  would  very  soon  catch  the  vessel  before 
anything  could  be  done  to  save  her.  And  if  this  pile  of 
pitch  and  oil  were  to  get  in  among  the  tree-covered  vessels, 
there  would  be  a  terrible  scene  ! 

"A  boat!  a  boat!"  cried  the  soldiers.  "Volunteers 
to  tow  away  this  fire  raft."  "I!"  and  "I!"  and  "I!" 
answered  brave  men  from  Farra^ut's  fleet.  A  boat  was 

O 

lowered  and  rowed  swiftly  up  to  this  blazing  pile.  Grap 
pling  irons  were  thrown  and  caught  fast  among  the  timbers, 
and  away  she  was  towed  out  of  reach  of  the  Union  vessels. 
All  by  herself,  on  the  water's  edge  she  burned  and  snapped 
and  crackled,  doing  no  harm,  only  making  of  herself  a 
most  beautiful  bonfire. 

Fort  Jackson  was  attacked  first.  Now  followed  a  fierce 
siege.  For  three  days  the  gun  boats  and  the  fort  kept  up 
the  fire.  Cannonball  and  bombshell  !  Smoke  and  flash  ! 
Roar  upon  roar,  till  it  seemed  as  if  the  very  earth  did  quake  ! 
Fish,  killed  by  the  shock,  floated  dead  upon  the  river. 


AMERICAN    HISTORY  STORIES.  8(J 

\Vindows  thirty  miles  away  were  broken  in  pieces,  shaken 
by  the  jarring  thunder. 

A  little  farther  up  the  river  it  was  found  that  iron  cables 
had  been  drawn  across,  linking  together  a  chain  of  hulks, 
and  so  making  passage  beyond  them  almost  impossible. 
But  nothing  seemed  impossible  to  Farragut's  men. 

These  cables  must  be  broken.  That  seemed  the  only 
thought.  And  so  again  under  cover  of  darkness,  two  gun 
boats  were  sent  to  break  the  cable.  With  hammer  and 
chisel  they  worked  away,  and  lo  !  the  cable  parted,  and 
down  the  stream  the  hulks  floated,  leaving  the  passage  free. 

Up  the  river  steamed  the  brave  fleet,  past  the  forts  which 
threw  out  a  rain  of  fire  and  shot  upon  them,  straight  through 
a  fleet  of  confederate  gun-boats,  sent  from  New  Orleans  to 
prevent  their  approach  to  the  city.  And  at  last  the  Union 
fleet  steamed  up  to  the  very  wharves  of  the  city,  demanding 
its  surrender.  The  people  stood  aghast !  They  had  believed 
it  impossible  to  reach  their  city.  All  the  time  the  bombard 
ing  of  the  forts  had  been  going  on,  these  people  had  laughed 
and  joked  about  it,  never  once  thinking  that  Farragut  could 
pass  the  forts,  the  fire-boats,  the  cables  !  But  here  he  was 
at  daybreak,  at  their  very  doors  ! 

The  people  were  panic  stricken.  What  should  they  do? 
Where  should  they  go?  "Burn the  city  !  Burn  the  city  !  " 
cried  the  men.  "Yes,  burn  the  city,  and  we  will  help  you  ! 
The  Yankees  shall  not  have  our  homes  !  "  cried  the  women. 


90  AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES. 

But  now  news  came  that  Butler,  too,  had  passed  the 
forts  safely  and  was  rapidly  approaching  by  land.  This 
was  the  last  blow ;  and  the  people  settled  down  to  their 
fate  with  sullen  faces,  and  with  hearts  full  of  hatred  and 


revenge . 


In  inarched  Butler  with  flags  flying,  his  bands  filling  the 
air  with  strains  of  Union  music.  Can  you  blame  these  New 
Orleans  men  and  women  that  they  hated  these  Union 
soldiers  ? 

How  the  people  glared  at  them !  how  they  muttered 
and  growled  !  The  women,  it  is  said,  were  more  bitter  than 
the  men.  They  were  like  lionesses  aroused  to  battle.  They 
would  not  pass  a  Union  soldier  on  the  street.  They  would 
go  out  into  the  middle  of  the  street  rather  than  to  meet  one 
of  the  oflicers.  The  Union  officers  were  insulted  on  every 
hand. 

Gen.  Butler  realized  how  bitter  a  trial  the  taking  of  their 
city  was  to  them,  as  we  all  do.  But  he  could  not  and 
would  not  allow  the  Union  oflicers,  much  more  the  Union 
flag,  to  be  insulted.  He  at  once  took  military  command  of 
the  city,  hoisted  the  "  Stars  and  Stripes  "  and  forced  the 
people  to  pay,  at  least,  outward  respect  to  his  soldiers. 

Did  you  ever  read  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ?  "  I  don't  sup 
pose  you  have — it  is  too  old  for  you  yet  —  but  perhaps  you 
have  seen  it  played.  You  remember  little  Eva,  the  little 
girl,  who  was  so  good  to  the  slaves.  You  remember  Old 


AMERICAN  HISTORY   STORIES.  91 

(Jncle  Tom,  whose  good  old  heart  was  nearly  broken  when 
he  thought  he  must  go  away  from  his  "little  missus,"  as  he 
always  called  the  little  Eva.  And  do  you  remember  Eliza, 
the  slave  woman  with  the  little  baby,  who  Avas  hunted 
through  the  forests  and  across  the  rivers,  the  wicked  old 
slave-owner  and  his  cruel  pack  of  hounds  at  her  heels  ? 

Before  the  war  broke  out,  Gen.  Butler  read  this  story  of 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ;"  but  didn't  approve  of  it  at  all.  He 
didn't  believe  any  such  cruelty  was  to  be  found  in  the 
South.  But  when  he  left  New  Orleans,  where  he  lived 
for  nearly  a  year,  he  said,  "Mrs.  Stowe  has  told  the  truth 
in  her  book.  I  have  seen  with  my  own  eyes  and  have 
heard  with  my  own  ears  treatment  of  slaves  here  in  the 
South  a  thousand  times  worse  than  anything  that  Mrs.  Stowe 
has  put  into  '  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  even." 


V/OMEN. 

Of  course,  all  the  women  in  the  United  States  were  not 
Unionists.  You  have  already  heard  how  the  Southern 
women  treated  the  Union  officers  whenever  they  met  them  on 
the  streets.  Do  you  remember  how  angry  the  New  Orleans 
women  were  when  Butler  came?  But  these  Southern 


92  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

women,  who  believed  that  their  side  was  right,  and  that 
the  Unionists  were  but  thieves  and  robbers,  were  not  con 
tent  with  being  merely  angry.  They  worked  for  their 
soldiers  just  as  the  Northern  women  worked  for  theirs. 

There  are  some  funny  stories  told  of  ways  in  which  these 
bright-witted  women  used  to  plan  to  carry  help  to  the  Con 
federate  soldiers. 

It  was  the  fashion  then  for  ladies  to  wear  very  large 
hoops  ;  and  these  ladies  soon  found  it  very  convenient  to 
fasten  packages  and  letters  to  the  wires  of  these  hoops,  and 
so  carry  them  to  the  soldiers. 

One  lady  was  found  to  have  on  a  quilted  skirt  which 
weighed  fifty  pounds.  What  do  you  suppose  she  had  hid 
den  in  this  wonderful  skirt?  You  may  be  sure  it  was 
something  for  the  soldiers.  It  was  filled  in  all  among  the 
quillings  with  sewing  silk  for  the  doctors  in  the  army  to 
use  for  sewing  up  wounds,  and  a  medicine,  called  quinine, 
which  is  believed  to  be  very  good  for  fever  and  chills. 

All  trunks  and  boxes  and  packages  that  went  out  from 
Washington  on  the  train  were  carefully  searched  ;  and  some 
times,  I  fancy,  very  strange  things  were  found  in  them. 

One  story  is  told  of  a  little  red,  wooden  trunk,  marked 
Mary  Berkitt,  Wheeling,  Virginia.  It  was  a  very  innocent 
looking  little  trunk,  looking  as  if  it  might  belong  to  some 
old  lady  perhaps.  But  the  officers  had  learned  from  expe 
rience  that  the  most  innocent  looking  people  and  the  most 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  93 

innocent  trunks  sometimes  held  the  greatest  secrets.  So 
Old  Lady  Mary's  trunk  was  looked  into.  On  the  top,  lay 
some  clothing,  very  neatly  packed,  and  under  these  some 
dresses. 

"  Never  mind  that  trunk,"  said  an  officer  ;  "  there's  noth 
ing  under  there  but  the  old  lady's  caps." 

"  Can't  be  too  sure,"  answered  the  officer  in  charge,  still 
pulling  out  the  clothing.  Down  at  the  very  bottom  of  the 
trunk,  the  caps  were  found  indeed.  Hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  them — more  than  the  old  lady  could  ever  wear  in  a  whole 
lifetime,  you  will  think.  Yes,  indeed  ;  but  you  see,  boys, 
they  happened  to  be  percussion-caps  ;  and  the  officer,  think 
ing  them  more  useful  for  him  than  for  her,  emptied  them 
all  out,  and  I  fear  Mary  never  saw  her  trunk  again. 


FUNERAL. 

All  sorts  of  ways  were  invented  to  carry  help  across 
fiom  Maryland  to  the  Confederate  states  ;  and  you  may  be 
sure  the  officers  had  to  keep  their  eyes  wide  open  day  and 


night. 


One  ^ay,  on  a  train,   as   innocent  a  looking  thing  as  a 
lunch  basket,  with  a  sandwich  and  a  doughnut  plainly  in 


94  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

sight,  was  found  to  be  filled  with  bright  brass  buttons,  on 
their  way  to  ornament  the  Confederate  soldiers'  coats. 

But  one  of  the  strangest  plots  for  carrying  help  was  Iry 
means  of  funeral  processions.  One  day  a  very  sober  look 
ing  procession  started  out  from  Baltimore  over  the  Long 
Bridge,  into  Virginia. 

Everything  appeared  all  right.  There  was  the  hearse 
with  the  coffin  within  ;  then  came  the  carriages,  their  cur 
tains  closely  drawn  to  hide  the  mourners  from  the  people 
on  the  streets  ;  the  drivers  all  looked  solemn  as  owls,  and 
to  all  appearances,  it  was  a  very  respectable  looking  funeral 
procession. 

The  first  sentry  at  the  Bridge,  feeling  that  a  funeral  pro 
cession,  of  all  things,  should  be  allowed  to  go  on  its  sad  way 
without  being  interfered  with,  let  it  pass  —  although,  as  he 
said  afterwards,  it  did  flash  across  his  mind  that  even  this 
might  be  but  another  Confederate  scheme. 

The  next  sentry  on  the  route,  was  not  so  easily  fooled. 
Perhaps  he  had  learned  that  even  funeral  processions  in 
those  times  were  suspicious.  Stepping  forward  as  the  hearse 
approached,  he  called  ''  Halt !  " 

Instantly  he  caught  a  look  upon  the  driver's  face  that 
told  him  that  something  was  wrong. 

"Open  the  hearse  !"  demanded  the  sentry.  The  hearse 
was  opened  and  the  coffin  dragged  out.  But  by  this  time, 
the  mourners  in  the  carriages  had  learned  that  their  plot 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  95 

was  discovered  ;  and  Avhen  the  sentry  turned  to  look  at 
them,  they  were  scrambling  out  of  their  carriages,  and  run 
ning  back  to  the  city  just  as  fast  as  ever  they  could  go. 

On  opening  the  coffin,  it  Avas  found  packed  full  of  mus 
kets,  which  at  that  time  would  have  been  very  acceptable 
Co  the  Confederate  army. 

One  of  the  ways  the  Confederates  in  Maryland  had  of 
getting  messages  across  the  river,  was  by  means  of  kites 
and  balloons.  When  kites  were  used,  they  were  made  of 
oiled  silk,  that  the  rain  might  not  spoil  them,  nor  the  water, 
should  they  chance  to  fall  into  the  river.  The  bobs  of  the 
kites  were  made  of  letters  and  newspapers,  fastened  on  just 
as  you  boys  fasten  the  bobs  to  your  kites  to-day. 

When  the  wind  was  in  the  right  direction,  these  kites 
were  sent  up,  their  strings  cut,  and  across  the  river  they 
would  fly,  falling  somewhere  on  the  Virginia  shore.  Some 
one  was  always  on  the  watch  for  these  kites ;  and  when 
the  Avind  turned,  back  would  come  the  kite  laden  with  letters 
and  papers  from  the  South. 


IN     THE 


While  all  these  defeats  and  losses  were  going  on,  out  in 
the  far  West  our  soldiers  were  winning  laurels  for  them 
selves. 


96  AMERICAN    HISTORY  STORIES. 

Gen.  Bragg,  a  Confederate  officer,  had  cut  round  behind 
a  part  of  our  army,  and  had  got  his  forces  well  into  Ken 
tucky.  For  six  weeks  this  army  marched  about  from 
place  to  place,  destroying  everything  and  pretty  nearly 
everybody  that  came  in  its  way. 

At  last  he  began  collecting  his  forces  with  a  view  to 
swooping  down  upon  St.  Louis.  The  people  of  this  city 
were  frightened  indeed.  A  panic  would  surely  have  fol 
lowed  but  for  Gen.  Lew  Wallace.  He  at  once  took  charge 
of  everything ;  called  for  troops,  built  defences,  and, 
indeed,  so  quickly  did  he  work,  that  by  the  time  one  of 
Bragg's  divisions  reached  there,  everything  was  ready  for 
them.  The  advancing  general  saw  they  were  ready  — 
indeed,  too  ready,  he  thought ;  so  when  darkness  fell,  he 
turned  his  troops  and  marched  back  to  join  Gen.  Bragg. 

I  want  you  to  remember  this  Gen.  Lew  Wallace  ;  for  you 
are  sure  to  hear  of  him  by  and  by  as  you  grow  older,  not  so 
much  as  a  soldier,  but  as  an  author.  Haven't  you  seen  your 
mamma  or  papa  reading  a  book  called  "Ben  Hur?"  Or 
haven't  you  heard  them  speak  of  it  ?  It  is  a  wonderful  book, 
and  I  fancy  Gen.  Lew  Wallace  and  his  beautiful  story  Avill  be 
remembered  long  after  the  battles  of  this  war  are  half  for 
gotten.  Some  day  when  you  are  older  you  will  read  "  Ben 
Hur,"  and  then  you  will  remember  that  the  writer  of  that 
book  was  a  general  in  this  Civil  War,  about  which  you  read 
when  you  were  little  boys  and  girls. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  97 

Bragg  had  all  this  time  been  loading  himself  with  riches? 
in  Kentucky.  He  had  fitted  out  his  army  with  shoes  and 
clothing,  had  filled  his  wagons  with  food,  and  had  seized 
the  splendid  Kentucky  horses  for  his  cavalry ;  more  than 
this,  he  had  sent  car-load  after  car-load  of  these  things  to 
the  South. 

Gen.  Buell  w£nt  against  Bragg,  but,  as  usual,  fortune 
seemed  to  smile  on  the  Confederate  side.  Gen.  Rosecrans 
then  went  against  a  division  of  Bragg's  army.  A  terrible 
battle,  lasting  all  one  day,  took  place  at  Corinth.  During 
the  night  the  Union  troops,  with  their  contraband  helpers, 
threw  up  new  defences  and  strengthened  the  old  one.  Early 
the  next  morning,  with  a  terrible  yell,  called  in  this  war 
the  "rebel  yell,"  the  Confederates  charged  upon  the  Union 
ranks . 

At  first  the  Unionists  fell  back ;  but  gathering  them 
selves  up,  they  closed  round  the  enemy.  Now  the  fielJ 
was  a  scene  of  terrible  slaughter.  The  Confederates  fled 
the  Unionists  at  their  heels,  pouring  in  their  shot  upoA 
them  as  they  ran.  At  last  the  Unionists  had  won  i* 
victory. 

Now  Rosecrans  was  sent  to  lake  charge  of  the  "Army  o' 
the  Cumberland,"  as  this  western  army  was  called. 

Bragg  had  settled  down  at  a  place  called  Murfreesboro', 
and  Jefferson  Davis  had  come  on  to  visit  him.  A  grand, 
good  time  Bragg  and  the  men  were  having  ;  giving  parties. 


•)8  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

attending  balls,  and  giving  themselves  up  generally  to  a 
good  time. 

But  all  this  time  the  wise  Rosecrans  was  laying  in  a  store 
of  provisions,  and  getting  himself  ready  for  a  long  fight  if 
necessary. 

An  attack  came.  A  terrible  attack  it  was,  too.  A  hot 
battle  ;  and  much  bravery  was  shown  on  both  sides. 

Up  and  down  rode  Rosecrans,  crying,  "We  must  win  this 
battle,  boys  !  "  no  matter  what  he  saw  or  what  he  heard. 
For  two  long  days  this  battle  raged,  and  at  last  the  Con 
federates  gave  way,  and  in  a  few  hours  Bragg  marched 
away,  bag  and  baggage,  leaving  the  field  to  the  Union 
soldiers. 


J3HARP-J3HOOTERP. 

Do  you  remember  the  sharp-shooters  who  came  into 
Washington's  camp  during  the  Revolution  ?  Do  you  remem 
ber  how  they  used  to  amuse  themselves  while  they  were 
encamped  outside  of  Boston,  by  shooting  at  targets  just  for 
the  practice  ? 

Well,  there  were  sharp-shooters  in  the  Civil  War,  too, 
both  among  the  Unionists  and  among  the  Confederates. 
Their  business  was  to  be  always  on  the  watch  when  the 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  99 

armies  were  encamped  near  each  othei  ;  and,  if  one  of  the 
enemy  showed  himself  anywhere  in  sight,  to  shoot  SL\  him. 

John  D.  Champlain,  who  has  lately  written  a  history  of 
this  war  for  young  folks,  tells  this  story  of  sharp-shooting  : 

"One  of  the  most  skilful  of  the  Confederate  marksmen 
was  a  large  negro,  who  used  to  perch  himself  in  a  tree  and 
lie  there  all  day,  firing  whenever  he  saw  a  chance  fora  good 
shot.  He  had  in  this  way  killed  several  Union  soldiers, 
and  the  sharp-shooters  had  watched  a  long  time  for  him.  At 
last  the  Union  trenches,  which  were  gradually  being  dug 
nearer  and  nearer,  reached  a  place  only  about  twenty  rods 
from  the  tree.  One  morning  the  darkey  came  out  early 
and  took  his  accustomed  place  in  the  tree.  The  sharp 
shooters  might  have  easily  killed  him  as  he  came  out,  but 
they  did  not  want  to  frighten  others  who  were  coming.  He 
was  followed  soon  by  several  Confederate  pickets,  on  whom 
the  men  fired,  killing  some  and  driving  the  others  back. 
The  darky,  of  course,  was  now  "  in  a  fix,"  or,  in  other 
words,  Avas  "  up  a  tree,"  for  he  could  not  get  back  without 
running  the  risk  of  being  shot. 

"I  say,  big  nigger,"  called  out  one  of  the  Union  marks 
men  from  the  trenches,  "you'd  better  come  down  from 
there." 

"What  for?"  he  asKecl. 

"I  want  you  as  a  prisoner." 

"  Not  as  this  chile  knows  of,"  he  answered. 


100  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

"All  right.     Just  as  you  say,"  called  out  the  marksman. 

In  about  an  hour  Mr.  Darkey,  hearing  nothing  from  in 
front  of  his  tree,  concluded  that  it  was  safe  to  take  just  one 
peep  ;  so  he  poked  his  head  out  far  enough  to  get  a  look  at 
the  Union  lines.  But  the  sharp-shooter  had  not  taken  his 
sye  from  the  tree  for  an  instant,  and  no  sooner  did  the  head 
appear  than  he  pulled  the  trigger  of  his  rifle.  A  little  puff 
of  blue  smoke  —  a  flash  —  the  whiz  of  a  bullet  —  and  down 
came  the  negro  to  the  ground  shot  through  the  head. 


The  soldiers  often  got  tired  enough  of  these  hard,  dry 
biscuits  and  the  salt  meat,  and  would  go  out  in  the  night 
time,  on  stealing  expeditions.  The  farmers  used  to  complain 
bitterly  of  the  soldiers  ;  for  they  not  only  would  steal  every 
thing  they  could  find,  but  they  would  trample  down  the 
growing  vegetables  wherever  they  went. 

One  day,  a  good  natured  old  farmer,  whose  potato  fields 
had  been  nearly  ruined  by  these  half-starved  soldiers,  came 
into  the  camp  hoping  to  find  some  trace  of  the  thieves. 
While  strolling  around  among  the  tents,  he  saw  one  of  the 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  10  i. 

boys  serving  up  a  dish  of  fine  potatoes,  which  he  thought 
looked  very  much  like  his  own. 

"Have  fine  potatoes  here,  I  see,"  he  said,  halting  before 
the  tent. 

"Splendid." 

"  Where  do  you  get  them  ?  " 

"Draw  them." 

"  Does  the  government  furnish  potatoes  for  rations  ?  " 

"Nary  tater." 

"But  I  thought  you  said  you  drew  them." 

"  Did.     We  just  do  that  thing." 

"  But  how  —  if  they  are  not  included  in  your  rations  ?  " 

"  Easiest  thing  in  the  world.  Won't  you  take  some  with 
us?" 

"  Thank  you.  But  you  will  oblige  me  if  you  will  tell  me 
how  you  draw  your  potatoes." 

"Nothing  easier.  Draw'em  by  the  tops,  mostly;  some 
times  with  a  hoe,  if  there's  one  left  in  the  field." 

"Ha!  yes!  I  understand.  Well,  now,  see  here.  II 
you  won't  draw  any  more  of  my  potatoes,  I'll  bring  you 
a  basketful  every  morning,  and  draw'em  myself." 

"  Now  will  you  ?     Good  for  you,  old  fellow  !  " 

And  three  cheers  and  a  tiger  were  given  for  the  farmox 
who  had  the  pleasure  in  future  of  drawing  his  own  potatoes. 


102  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


JOE 

At  one  of  the  hospitals,  was  a  boy  of  twenty,  who  had 
been  shot  in  the  eyes.  He  used  to  enjoy  sitting  by  the 
window,  his  eyes  bandaged,  and  singing:  "O,  I'm  a  sojer 
boy!" 

"What's  your  name,  my  boy?"  asked  a  visitor. 

"Joe  Parsons,  sir?  " 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  " 

"Blind,  sir,  blind  as  a  bat ;  shot  at  Antietam. 

"But  it  might  ha'  been  worse,"  he  said.  "I'm  thankful 
I'm  alive,  sir." 

"You  see,  I  was  hit,  yer  see,  and  it  knocked  me  downj 
I  lay  there  all  night,  and  in  the  morning  the  fight  began 
again.  I  could  stand  the  pain,  but  the  balls  were  flyin'  all 
round,  and  I  wanted  to  get  away.  At  last  I  heard  a  groan 
beyond  me." 

"  Hallo/'  said  I.     "  Hallo,  yourself,"  said  he. 

"  Who  are  you  ?  "  said  I .     "A  Gray  Jacket  ?  " 

*"  Yes,"  said  he  ;  "  and  you're  a  Blue  Jacket." 

"My  leg  is  broken,"  said  he. 

"Can  you  see?"  said  I. 

"Yes." 

"Well,  I  can't;    but  I  can  walk.      Now  if  you'll  do  the 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  103 

seeing,  I'll  do  the  walking  and  get  us  both  away  from 
here." 

"All  right;  agreed." 

"  So  that's  the  way  we  saved  ourselves.  And  now  I'm 
getting  along  pretty  well." 

"But  my  poor  boy,"  said  the  visitor,  "you  will  never  see 
again." 

"Yes  I  know  that,  but  —  'I'm  a  bold,  bold  sojer  boy.'" 

"  A  bold,  bold  sojer  boy  "  — and  the  visitor  passed  on,  leav 
ing  Joe  singing  as  merry  as  a  lark. 


]4oME   j3lDE   OF  THE   Y/AR  plCTURE. 

It  would  not  be  fair  at  all  to  the  women  and  children  of 
these  times,  neither  do  I  think  it  would  be  a  true  story  of 
the  war  if  I  were  to  tell  you  of  nothing  but  the  battles. 
Battles  are  terrible  enough;  or  if  you  think  so,  grand 
enough,  and  brave  enough.  But  you  must  not  think  that 
the  whole  of  war  is  carried  on  in  the  battle-field. 

Suppose,  little  boy  and  little  girl,  there  were  a  war  going 
on  in  our  country  to-day.  S  ppose  your  father  were  to  go 
as  a  soldier  to  this  war.  rle  might  look  very  fine  as  he 
marched  away  in  his  blue  coat,  with  its  gilt  braid  and  its 


104  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

brass  buttons.  You  might  be  very  proud  of  him,  as  no 
doubt  you  would  be  ;  but  do  you  think  that  would  be  all, 
just  your  seeing  him  look  handsome  and  brave,  and  your 
feeling  proud  of  him  ? 

I  am  afraid  after  he  had  gone  and  the  house  was  so  quiet, 
and  mamma  looked  so  pale  and  white,  and  every  day  when 
the  newspaper  came  you  hardly  dared  read  it  for  fear  you 
would  learn  that  your  papa  had  been  shot  dead,  or  that  he 
had  been  put  into  the  black  prisons  — I  am  afraid  you  would 
come  to  think  that  there  was  something  more  to  war  than 
plumes  and  brass  buttons. 

And  suppose,  by  and  by,  you  should  hear  that  your  papa 
was  starving,  that  his  shoes  and  stockings  were  all  worn 
out,  and  that  his  feet  were  lame  and  sore  from  marching 
over  the  hot,  rough  roads,  and  that  he  was  sick  and  dying ! 

Suppose  as  the  long  weeks  went  on,  mamma  should  have 
to  go  out  to  find  some  work  to  earn  money  to  feed  you  and 
your  little  brothers  and  sisters  —  would  war  seem  then  a 
beautiful  thing,  do  you  think? 

But  this  is  what  ahvays  does  come  into  the  homes  when 
:he  papas  and  the  big  brothers  go  to  the  battle  field. 
Mamma's  heart  grows  very  heavy,  I  fear ;  and  the  little 
children,  too,  begin  to  learn  that  war  is  a  sad,  sad  thing. 

But  in  this  civil  war  of  ours,  I  must  tell  you  how  brave 
these  mothers  and  children  were.  How  generous  they  were 
and  how  willing  to  work. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  105 

The  rich  sent  money  and  food  for  the  soldiers  most  freely  ; 
but  the  clothes,  the  stockings, —  these  things  came  usually 
f?-om  the  poor  who  had  no  money  to  give.  Everywhere 
societies  were  formed,  called  "  Soldiers'  Relief  Societies." 
The  rich  would  bring  to  these  societies  money  and  cloth  and 
yarn,  and  the  poor  people  who  had  nothing  to  give,  would 
take  the  cloth  and  the  yarn  home  to  make  up  into  clothes 
and  stockings  for  the  soldiers.  In  among  these  wretched 
battles,  I  must  tell  you  a  story  now  and  then  about  these 
g^od  women  and  children. 


]^IVE-DOLLAR 

A  lady  at  the  head  of  one  of  these  relief  societies  tells 
this  story  : 

A  little  girl  not  nine  years  old,  with  sweet  and  timid 
grace,  came  into  the  rooms,  and  laying  a  five-dollar  gold 
piece  on  our  desk,  half  frightened,  told  us  its  history.  "My 
uncle  gave  me  that  before  the  war,  and  I  was  going  to  keep 
it  always  ;  but  he's  got  killed  in  the  army,  and  mother  says 
now  T  may  give  it  to  the  soldiers  if  I  want  to — and  I'd  like 
to  do  so.  I  don't  suppose  it  will  buy  much  for  them,  will 


106 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


it?"  We  led  the  child  to  the  store-room,  and  showed  hei 
how  valuable  her  gift  was,  by  pointing  out  what  it  would 
buy — so  many  cans  of  milk,  or  so  many  bottles  of  ale,  or 
pounds  of  tea,  or  codfish,  etc.  Her  face  brightened  with 
pleasure.  But  when  we  explained  to  her  that  her  five-dol 
lar  gold  piece  was  equal  to  seven  dollars  and  a  half  in  green 
backs,  and  told  her  how  much  comfort  we  could  carry  into 
a  hospital,  with  the  stores  that  sum  would  buy,  she  fairly 
danced  with  joy. 

"Oh,  it  will  do  lots-  of  good,  won't  it?"  And  folding 
her  hands  before  her,  she  begged,  in  her  charmingly  modest 
way,  tf  Please  tell  me  something  that  you've  seen  in  the 
hospitals  ?  " 

We  told  her  a  few  little  stories— taking  care  to  tell  this 
little  child  nothing  of  the  horrors  of  hospital  life  and 
death. 

Then  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  she  said, "  Lady,  I  am  going 
to  save  every  single  penny  I  have  for  the  soldiers  ;  and  I'm 
going  to  ask  all  the  little  girls  I  know  to  save  theirs,  too.' 
Dear  Little  Lillie  !  Who  can  tell  what  a  world  of  good  her 
live-dollar  gold  piece  with  all  her  love  behind  it,  did  for 
some  poor  soldier. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  107 

Y/HAT    SOME   POOR   PEOPLE    DID    FOR  THE    ^OLDIER^. 

Up  a m 01112:  the  mountains,  in  a  farming  district,  lived  a 
mother  and  her  daughters.  They  were  very  poor  —  too 
poor  by  far  to  buy  anything  to  send  the  soldiers. 

Twelve  miles  away,  over  the  mountain,  was  a  town  in 
which  was  one  of  these  "  Soldiers'  Relief  Societies." 

"Let  us  go  over  the  mountain,  daughters,"  said  the  old 
mother,  "  and  bring  home  some  work  to  do  for  the  soldiers. 
We  have  no  money  to  give,  but  we  can  find  a  little  time,  I 
am  sure,  to  work  for  them." 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  the  daughters  ;  "  we  can  get  up  earlier 
and  milk  the  cows,  and  feed  the  chickens  and  the  pigs  ;  we 
can  hurry  a  little  with  our  planting  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
farm-work,  and  so  make  time  to  sew  and  knit  for  the 
soldiers." 

Now,  when  you  think  that  these  three  women  had  all  the 
work  to  do  both  in  the  house  and  on  the  farm,  and  that 
their  farm  was  all  the  means  of  gaining  food  that  they  had, 
you  can  see  that  they  had  quite  as  much  to  do  as  they  had 
lime  or  strength  for  without  taking  work  home.  Nevertheless 

O  O 

every  two  weeks  one  of  these  three  women  used  to  ride  into 
the  village  for  work.  Poorly  clad,  looking  always  as  if 
very  little  of  the  good  things  or  life  had  ever  come  to  them, 
dusty  and  tired  from  their  long  ride,  back  and  forth  they 
came  with  their  little  offerings  of  work. 


108  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

"I  presume  you  have  some  dear  one  in  the  army,"  said 
one  of  the  officers  to  these  women  one  day. 

"  No,"  said  they  ;  "  none  now  ;  our  only  brother  was  killed 
at  the  Battle  of  Ball's  Bluff.  But  for  his  sake,  and  for  our 
country's  sake,  we  do  all  we  can  for  the  soldiers." 

In  another  little  village,  lived  a  widow  and  her  one  little 
girl.  Papa  had  left  them  to  join  the  army.  Mamma  worked 
and  the  little  girl  worked  for  food  and  clothes  till  papa  should 
come  Lack  to  them.  But  one  day  the  news  came  that  he 
could  never  come  to  them  again — he  had  fallen  in  the  battle 
of  Fair  Oaks.  They  worked  on  still;  and  although  they 
earned  so  little,  they  saved  enough  money,  and  found  enough 
time,  to  make  a  quilt  for  the  hospital,  a  pair  of  socks  and  a 
shirt.  All  winter  long,  these  two,  mother  and  child, 
worked  through  the  long  evenings  to  make  these.  "Papa 
died  in  the  hospital,"  the  little  girl  used  to  say ;  "and  per 
haps  he  needed  these  things.  Perhaps  some  other  little 
girl  made  the  quilt  that  kept  him  warm,  so  we  will  make  this 
one  to  keep  some  other  good  soldier  warm." 

Many  a  little  girl  went  without  candy  in  these  days,  many 
a  little  boy  went  without  toys,  that  they  might  save  their 
money  for  the  soldiers. 

One  little  girl,  only  five  years  old,  knit  a  pair  of  stockings 
to  send  to  the  soldiers.  Such  a  little  girl !  I  suspect  her 
mamma  had  now  and  then  to  take  a  stitch  for  her  on  them. 
But  nevertheless  the  little  girl's  love  was  in  them  from  top 


AMERICAN   HISTORY   STORIES.  109 

to  toe.  On  them  she  pinned  a  little  note,  saying,  "These 
socks  was  nit  by  a  little  gurl  fiv  yers  old  and  she  is 
going  to  nit  lots  more  for  the  dere  soljers." 

I  hope  tiie  soldier  who  got  these  stockings  was  one  who 
had  a  little  girl  at  home  himself.  Then  I  am  sure  he  Avould 
understand  what  hours  and  hours  of  hard  work  this  baby 
girl  had  put  into  this  pair  of  socks. 

Another  little  girl,  Emma  Andrews,  only  ten  years  old, 
used  to  come  to  the  rooms  of  the  Society  in  her  town  every 
Saturday  and  fill  her  basket  with  pieces  of  linen  which  had 
been  sent  in  for  bandages  for  the  wounded  soldiers.  These  she 
would  take  home,  and  cut  up  into  nice  towels  or  handker 
chiefs,  or  roll  them  into  neat  bandages,  and  bring  them 
back  the  next  wreek.  Her  busy  little  fingers  made  over 
three  hundred  towels,  all  neatly  hemmed  and  folded. 

It  is  said  that  counting  up  all  the  money  the  children 
saved,  together  with  the  value  of  their  work,  they  as  good 
as  sent  over  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  aid  the  Union 
soldiers  during  this  war. 

The  very  old  women,  too,  some  of  them  so  old  that  they 
oould  remember  the  days  of  the  Revolution  even,  did  their 
part.  Thousands  of  stockings  these  half  blind  old  grand 
mammas  would  knit,  while  their  thoughts,  I  fancy,  ran 
back  over  those  years  so  long  ago,  when  they  had  seen  their 
fathers  go  away  to  fight  for  this  same  country  in  1812,  and 
in  1775. 


110  AMERICAN   HISTORY  ^TORIES. 

One  old  lady,  ninety-seven  years  old,  spun  a  woollen 
blanket,  and  carried  it  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  Society  to 
send  to  these  soldiers.  "  It  is  all  I  could  do,"  said  she  ; 
"and  I  had  to  bring  it  myself." 

Another  old  lady,  Mrs.  Bartlett  of  Medford,  Mass.,  knit 
over  a  hundred  and  ninety  pairs  of  socks  for  the  Union 
soldiers. 


PROCLAMATION    OF   ^MANCIPATION. 
( Proc-la-ma-tion  of  E-man-vi-pa-tion.) 

Well,  children,  those  words  look  big  enough  to  take  aAvay 
your  breath  !  They  are  bigger  than  "religious  persecution," 
of  which  Ave  had  so  much  in  the  colonial  times  ;  or,  "  taxa 
tion  without  representation,"  "  declaration  of  independence,'' 
of  which  AVO  heard  in  the  Revolution  ;  or,  "impressment  of 
American  seamen,"  of  which  we  heard  in  the  war  of  1812. 

I  wish  I  were  not  obliged  to  use  any  large  words  in  these 
ittle  histories  ;  but  once  in  a  Avhile  it  seems  impossible  to  do 
without  them.  These  phrases,  Avith  their  long  words,  have 
been  handed  down  through  all  these  years  of  our  country's 
history  until  they  have  come  to  be  as  settled  as  the  name  of 
a  city  or  the  name  of  a  river ;  and  someway  it  doesn't 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  Ill 

as  if  they  ought  to  be  changed,  not  even  for  little 
folks,  any  more  than  the  names  of  cities  or  rivers  should  be 
changed. 

And  there  are  not  many  of  them  after  all. 

See  if  you  can  repeat  these  words  all  together. 

1.  The  early  settlers  in  this  country  left  England  to  be 
Zree  from  "  religious  persecution." 

2.  The  cause  of  the  Revolution  was  "  Taxation  without 
Representation." 

3.  The  people  of  this  country  drew  up  a  paper  in  which 
they  said  they  would  no  longer  be  ruled  over  by  the  Eng 
lish.     This  was  called  the  "  Declaration  of  Independence." 

4.  The  cause  of  the  war  of  1812  was  the  "Impressment 
of  American  Seamen." 

5.  And  now   one   more  :      Abraham  Lincoln  believed 
that  the  negro  slaves  had  a  right  to  be  free  ;  so  he  drew  up 
a  paper  telling  them  they  should  be  free.      This  was  called 
the  "Proclamation  of  Emancipation." 

You  remember  Gen.  Butler  had  settled  the  question  of 
what  was  to  be   done  with  the  slaves  by  saying  that  they 
\cre  to  be  taken  as  "contraband  goods,"  just  like  so  many 
Battle,  or  so  many  barrels  of  sugar,  or  bales  of  cotton. 

But  there  came  a  time  when  it  was  necessary  for  some 
law  to  be  made  by  the  government  itself  in  regard 
to  this  matter.  There  needed  to  be  a  law  regarding  the 
treatment  of  these  slaves  which  all  the  soldiers  should  obey  ; 


112  AMERICAN  HISTORY   STORIES. 

for  as  it  stood  now,  one  general  who  believed  in  freeing  the 
slaves  would  take  them  into  their  camps  when  they  fled 
from  their  masters,  and  shield  them  from  harm ;  while 
another  general,  who  cared  nothing  about  the  slavery  ques 
tion,  and  was  fighting  only  to  save  the  Union,  would  let  the 
slave-hunter  come  into  the  camp  and  carry  off  the  poor, 
black  runaways. 

The  slaves  themselves  were  growing  to  feel  unsafe.  They 
did  not  know  when  they  fled  to  the  Union  camps  whether 
they  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  friends  or  foes. 

And  so,  on  New  Year's  Day,  1863,  Abraham  Lincoln 
sent  out  his  "  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,"  saying  that 
from  this  time  forth  no  man  should  own  another  man  and 
call  him  his  "slave."  The  negro  was  now  as  free  as  the 
white  man.  No  one  had  now  any  right  to  take  him  away 
from  his  wife  and  his  children  to  be  sold,  or  to  carry  away 
his  wife  and  children  from  him. 

Of  course,  the  Southerners  were  more  bitter  than  ever; 
and  you  can  hardly  wonder  that  they  were.  There  were 
men  whose  regular  business  had  been  to  buy  and  sell 
negroes,  just  as  men  now  buy  and  sell  horses.  They  had 
invested  their  money  in  this  business,  and  now,  of  course, 
it  was  all  lost.  There  were  others  who  owned  great  farms, 
or  plantations  as  they  call  them  in  the  South ;  the  work 
of  which  had  been  ahvays  done  by  the  slaves.  Now  these 
slaves  were  all  free  ;  and,  on  those  plantations  where  the 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  113 

master  had  been  cruel  to  them,  you  may  be  sure  these 
slaves  did  not  work  very  long  after  the  news  of  freedom 
reached  their  ears. 

We  can  afford  to  be  generous  to  these  slave-owners  even, 
when  we  think  what  a  blow  it  was  to  them  to  have  their 
habits  of  life  all  broken  up  in  this  way.  Many  of  them 
were  as  honest  as  honest  can  be  in  believing  these  black 
men  and  women  belonged  to  them  ;  and  that  they  had  a 
right  to  use  them  to  work  their  farms.  Then,  too,  there 
were  thousands  and  thousands  of  slave-owners  who  were 
just  as  kind  to  these  black  people  as  they  were  to  their  own 
families.  Their  slaves  had  their  own  little  cabins,  snug 
and  warm,  where  they  could  sit  happy  as  children  through 
the  long  summer  evenings,  playing  their  banjos  and  sing 
ing  their  funny  old  plantation  songs. 

Did  you  ever  hear  any  of  these  plantation  songs?  I  wish 
there  were  room  to  put  five  or  six  of  them  in  this  book  ;  for, 
someway,  it  doesn't  seem  as  if  we  can  have  much  idea  of 
these  simple  hearted  people  unless  we  hear  their  songs. 

They  were  such  strange  people  !  Ignorant,  because  they 
were  seldom  allowed  to  learn  to  read  ;  believing  in  ghosts 
and  goblins,  fond  of  yelling  and  singing  and  dancing,  full 
of  strange  ideas  of  the  Bible  and  God  and  heaven,  either 
hating  their  masters,  as  they  hated  work,  or  else  loving 
them  as  a  dog  loves  his  master,  ready  to  die  for  them  and 
the  "missus,"  as  they  used  to  call  their  masters'  wives. 


U4  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

You  must  ask  your  teachers  to  read  parts  of  Uncle 
Fom's  Cabin  to  you,  children.  In  that  book  you  will  get  an 
honest  story  of  Southern  life,  you  will  read  of  kind  slave 
owners,  and  of  cruel  slave-owners,  of  good  slaves  and  of 
bad  slaves  ;  for  I  don't  want  you  to  think,  as  I  did  when  I 
mis  a  little  child,  that  all  the  Southerners  were  wicked, 
r/icked  people,  and  that  all  the  slaves  were  whipped  and 
bshed  every  day  of  the  year.  You  must  remember  the 
Southerners  were  just  as  honest  in  their  opinions  during 
7,he  war  as  the  Unionist  soldiers  were.  They  were  just  as 
brave  too ;  they  were  ready  to  suffer  everything  for  their 
dear  States,  just  as  our  soldiers  were  ready  to  suffer  every 
thing  for  the  Union.  You  must  remember,  too,  that  very, 
very  many  of  them  were  kind  to  their  slaves  ;  so  kind,  that 
if  it  were  not  that  these  slaves  had  souls  which  had  the  right 
to  grow,  minds  which  had  the  right  to  study  and  learn 
about  the  beautiful  things  of  this  world  —  if  it  were  not  for 
these,  one  might  almost  think  these  slaves,  many  of  them, 
were  better  off  before  they  were  made  free.  But  it  can 
not  be  right  for  one  person  to  have  the  right  to  say  lie  owns 
another  man,  can  it?  And  so  because  the  principle  of 
slavery  was  wrong,  it  was  a  grand  thing  for  Abraham  Lin 
coln  to  come  out  fairly  and  squarely  and  say,  "No  person 
IT*  the  United  States  shall  hereafter  own  slaves  !  " 


NEGRO  SONG. 


115 


This  is  a  funny  old  song  that  the  "darkeys"  used  to  delight  to  sing  in  the  days 
when  they  believed  "  Father  Abraham  "  was  coming  to  free  them. 


1.  Say, darkeys, hab  you  seen  de  mas  -  sa  Wicl  de  muffstas  on  his 

2.  He    six  foot  one  way, two  foot  tudder,  An'  he  weigh  tree  hundred 

3.  De     ob  -  er  -  seer  he  make  us  trou-ble,  An'  he  dribe  us  round  a 


face, Go  long  de  road  some  time  dis  mornin',Like  he  gwine  to  leab   de 
pound,  His  coat  so  big  he  coakUi't  pay  de  tai-lor,  An'   it  won't  go  half  way 
spell ;  We  lock  him  up  in  de  smoke-house  collar,  Wid  de  key  trown  in  de 


place?  He  seen     a  smoke, way  up  de   rib-ber,\Vharde  Limkum  gumboats 

round.  He  drill   so  muchdey  call  himCap'an,  An'  he  get   so  dref-ful 

well.  De  whip  is     lost,  de  han'-cuft' broken, But  de  massa'llhab    his 


lay ;  He  took  his  hat,  an'  lef  ber-ry  sudden,  An' I  spec  he's  run  a  -way ! 
taim'd,  I  spec   he  try   an' fool  dcm  Yankees  For  to  tink  he's  contraband. 
PMV  ;lle'  s  ole  enough, big  enough,  ought  to  known  better  Dan  to  went  an'  run  away. 


IfeE^fe 


V        V        r       r  r        p 

mus' be  now  de  king-dom  coming, An' de  year  ob 


Ju-  bi-   lol 


U  6  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES, 


F^EQIMENT. 

You  have  not  forgotten  how  short  a  time  ago  it  was  that 
the  anti-slavery  men  in  Boston  had  been  mobbed  ;  you  have 
not  forgotten  how  bitter  many  Northerners  felt  towards 
black  men  and  women,  and  towards  anti-slavery  men  and 
women ;  you  have  not  forgotten  the  Run-away  Slave  Law, 
which  allowed  a  slave  owner  to  pursue  his  slaves  into  the 
Northern  States  and  take  them  wherever  they  were  found. 

All  these  feelings  had  been  changing  little  by  little  dur 
ing  these  two  years  of  war.  Nowhere  was  there  quite  such 
bitter  feeling,  and  in  Boston  it  seemed  to  have  died  away 
entirely. 

Early  in  this  year,  after  the  Proclamation  had  been  sent 
forth,  there  began  to  be  much  talk  of  raising  a  negro  army. 
"  Why  not  let  these  slaves  fight  for  their  own  freedom  ?  "  the 
people  began  to  say. 

"Niggers  can't  fight!  Niggers  don't  know  enough  to 
fight!"  cried  some,  who  did  not  quite  believe  in  them 
yet. 

"  Whoever  saw  a  nigger  soldier  ?  "  cried  another. 

"Fancy  a  nigger  trying  to  Forward,  march!  Right 
Awheel !  Left  wheel !  Right  about  Face  !  "  laughed  some  of 
the  soldiers. 

But  for  all  this  the  "  nigger  ''    regiments    were    formed  ; 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  117 

and  they  proved  as  well-behaved  and  as  brave  as  those  who 
laughed  at  them,  I  have  no  doubt. 

The  first  regiment  of  colored  men  was  the  Fifty-fourth, 
Massachusetts,  Robert  G.  Shaw  its  colonel. 

This  regiment  was  to  have  been  sent  to  the  capital  by 
way  of  New  York  ;  but  it  was  found  that  the  feeling  against 
negroes  was  still  strong  in  that  city,  so  strong  that  there 
began  to  be  signs  of  mobs  ready  to  attack  this  regiment  if 
if  passed  through  that  city. 

These  troops,  therefore,  were  sent  by  way  of  water  from 
Boston. 

To  show  you  how  rapidly  the  feeling  against  these  black 
people  died  out,  I  must  tell  you  that  in  only  a  few  months 
from  this  time,  all  New  York  turned  out  to  cheer  a  colored 
regiment  that  marched  down  Broadway  on  its  way  to  the 
war.  Yes,  indeed,  they  were  cheered  as  long,  and  with  as 
much  noise  and  hearty  good-will  as  had  Ellsworth's  troops 
been  cheered  two  years  before,  when  they  marched  down 
this  same  street. 


"  To  every  man  upon  this  earth 
Death  cometh  soon  or  late  ; 
And  where  can  man  die  better 
Than  facing  fearful  odds, 
For  the  ashes  of  his  fathers, 
And  the  temples  of  his  Gods  !  " 

— Indiana's  Roll  of  Honor. 


118 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


ADMIRAL  FARRAGUT. 


OF 


Now  that  the  North  had  come  out 
fairly,  and  had,  by  freeing  the  slaves 
declared  one  grand  principle  of  Right, 
we  might  well  expect  success  to  be 
found  on  their  side  ;  for  although  it 
does'nt  always  look  so  to  us,  Good 
does  govern,  and  it  gains  the  victory 
in  the  end.  In  any  struggle  the  man 
or  woman,  boy  or  girl,  who  knows  that 
his  side  is  the  right  side,  will  feel  more  courage  to  go  on, 
more  surety  of  success. 

And  now  we  shall  begin  to  hear  more  about  Gen. 
Grant. 

Grant's  soldiers  were  mostly  men  from  States  up  and 
down  the  Mississippi.  Now,  this  river,  they  said,  belonged 
to  them.  To  shut  it  up,  to  cut  off  their  trade,  would  ruin 
their  part  of  the  country  ;  their  farms  would  be  of  nc 
value,  their  flocks  and  herds,  their  manufactories  would  be 
of  no  value,  all  because  there  would  be  no  way  of  sending 
their  produce  to  other  markets. 

"We  will  fight  for  this  river,"  said  they  "till  our  blood 
flows  with  it  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  !  " 

New  Orleans  you  know,  had  already  been  taken  by  Far- 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  119 

ragut  and  Butler.  Not  far  from  New  Orleans,  up  the  river, 
was  the  city  of  Vicksburg.  This  was  held  by  the  Confed 
erates,  and  was  said  to  be  so  strongly  fortified  that  no  army 
in  the  world  could  take  it  from  them. 

"But  it  must  be  taken,"  said  Grant.  "Holding  New 
Orleans  is  of  no  use,  if  the  Confederates  just  above  can 
keep  us  from  going  up  and  down  the  river." 

"But  Farragut  and  Porter  tried  to  take  it  after  New 
Orleans  ;  didn't  they  batter  away  at  it  with  cannon  ball  and 
bomb-shell  until  they  were  tired  out?"  said  the  doubting 
ones. 

"That  makes  no  difference,"  said  Grant  and  his  men; 
"  Vicksburg  must  be  taken  !  "  The  city  was  built  on  high 
bluffs  which  rose  straight  up  from  the  low  flat  river  bed. 
All  around  it  were  swampy  lands,  with  creeks  and  little  bays, 
and  muddy  places  where  a  man  would  sink  in  mud  over  his 
head  ;  more  than  this,  there  were  dense  tangled  forests  of 
hanging  moss  and  brush,  with  every  where  fallen  trees 
lying  across  each  other  in  a  way  to  make  it  seem  almost 
impossible  for  an  army  to  get  across. 

But  Grant  only  knew  one  thing  —  that  the  Unionists 
needed  to  hold  that  city.  He  didn't  say  very  much — Grant 
never  did  say  very  much — but  he  could  think,  and  think, 
and  think  ;  and  after  Grant  had  thought,  there  was  pretty 
sure  to  be  something  done. 

The  year  before,  when  Farragut  had  tried  to   take   the 


120  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

city,  he  had  begun  cutting  a  canal  through  towards  it.  If 
this  canal  could  now  be  finished,  ships  and  gunboats  could 
get  around  behind  the  city,  and  so  attack  it  from  the  rear. 

The  soldiers  began  working  at  this  canal.  For  several 
days  the  work  went  on,  the  courage  of  the  workmen  rising 
with  every  spadeful  of  earth  they  threw  up  ;  but  one  day, 
the  ungrateful  river,  which  they  were  working  so  hard 
to  save  from  Confederate  hands,  overflowed,  and  away  went 
the  banks  of  the  canal,  the  workmen  themselves  having  to 
run  for  their  lives. 

"  The  good  old  river  will  protect  us,"  said  the  Vicksburg 
people  ;  but  I'm  afraid  the  river  neither  knew  nor  cared 
very  much  about  either  Unionists  or  Confederates  ;  for  it 
seemed  always  ready  to  cut  its  pranks  and  capers,  first  on 
one  side,  then  on  the  other. 

After  this,  Grant  gave  up  the  canal  plan.  He  had  another 
however,  and  began  at  once  to  carry  it  out.  March 
ing  towards  the  city  to  attack  it  from  the  rear,  he  learned 
that  a  Confederate  force  was  behind  him. 

"  I  leave  no  enemy  in  the  rear,"  said  Grant.  "  I  do  not 
propose  to  be  shut  in  here  like  a  rat  in  a  trap,"  said  he ;  so 
back  h^  marched,  to  attack  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  The 
enemy,  however,  knew  too  well  they  could  not  withstand 
an  attack,  so  they  fled.  The  Union  soldiers  ran  up  the  Union 
flag  on  the  state-house  of  the  city  which  the  Confederates 
left,  sang  a  good  old  battle-song,  and  then  marched  back 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  121 

again  to  meet  the  enemy  coming  from  the  opposite  direc 
tion. 

Half-way  between  Jackson  and  Vicksburg,  the  armies 
met  in  battle.  The  Confederates,  driven  back  into  the  city, 
shut  themselves  up,  and  waited  to  see  what  Grant  would 
do. 

Grant  made  one  attack  on  the  city,  but  it  was  useless o 
Now  if  that  other  army  did  not  come  and  attack  them, 
Grant  was  sure  that  he  could  in  time  starve  out  the 
city.  So  he  settled  his  army  round  about,  and  the  whiz 
zing  of  bombs  and  shells  into  the  city  was  the  only  sign  of 
Var. 

Inside  the  city  the  people  had  dug  caves,  and  had  taken 
their  food  and  furniture  into  them,  that  they  might  be 
safe  from  the  shells. 

In  time,  however,  provisions  began  to  grow  scarce.  The 
people  had  already  begun  to  eat  horses,  and  rats  even. 
Their  only  hope  was  that  some  Confederate  force  would 
come  and  attack  Grant.  Grant's  only  hope  was  that  some 
Confederate  force  would  not  come  to  attack  him. 

No  force  came  ;  and  in  July  a  white  flag  was  seen  float 
ing  from  the  walls  of  the  city.  This  of  course  meant,  "We 
can  hold  out  no  longer." 

On  jthe  Fourth  of  July,  the  Confederate  army  marched 
out,  each  ,man  throwing  down  his  gun  and  knapsack  as  he 
passed.  The  Union  soldiers  stood  quietly  by  as  the  beaten 


122  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

army  passed ;  but  when  later  they  marched  into  the  city, 
and  ran  up  the  Union  flag,  then  cheer  on  cheer  rent  the 
air.  This  was  the  happiest  "  Fourth  "  the  country  had  seen 
for  a  long  time. 

All  this  time,  Gen.  Banks  had  been  besieging  Port  Hud- 
son,  just  below  Vicksburg.  But  as  soon  as  word  came  that 
Vicksburg  had  surreiided,  the  commander  Avithin  Port  Hud 
son  knew  that  all  was  over.  He,  too,  surrendered  ;  and  now 
the  Mississippi  was  free  from  its  source  to  its  mouth.  Every 
point  was  in  the  hands  of  Union  soldiers ;  and  from 
every  fort  and  from  every  city  floated  the  Union  flag. 


"  {STONEWALL  JACKSON  "   ip 

I  almost  dread  to  take  you  back  to  see  what  the  army  of 
the  Potomac  has  been  doing  all  thi's  time.  While  this 
Army  of  the  West  had  been  so  full  of  success,  the  Eastern 
army  had  met  only  with  defeat. 

McClellan,  you  remember,  had  been  taken  from  the  com 
mand,  and  Burnside  had  been  put  in  his  place.  Burnside  had 
made  that  one  unfortunate  attack  upon  Lee  in  Fredericks- 
burg,  and  had  then  settled  down  in  huts  by  the  river  side 
for  the  Avinter.  Burnside  had  never  felt  that  he  was  equal 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  123 

to  the  guiding  of  such  an  army,  and  now  at  the  beginning 
of  this  year,  1863,  he  resigned  his  position ;  and  Gen. 
Hooker — called  "Fighting  Joe" — was  given  the  command. 

Gen.  Hooker  was  wide  awake.  He  began  at  once  getting 
the  army  in  training  for  a  new  start. 

His  first  move  was  to  quietly  cross  the  river,  and  creep 
up  to  Lee's  army  in  Fredericksburg.  This  he  did  with  such 
success,  that  Lee  knew  nothing  about  it,  till  he  heard  the 
army  at  Chancellorsville,  just  outside  of  Fredericksburg. 

Lee  did  not  care  to  be  attacked  in  the  city  ;  so  he  marched 
out  to  meet  Hooker.  This  attack  was  managed  by  "  Stone 
wall  Jackson,"  the  General  whose  very  name  the  Union 
soldiers  had  learned  to  fear. 

All  day  long  the  battle  raged ;  and  a  sad  day  it  was  for 
the  Union  soldiers.  Just  at  its  close,  Jackson,  who  had 
been  the  very  life  of  the  battle,  was  hurrying  towards  a  com 
pany  of  his  own  men,  when  they,  mistaking  him  in  the 
smoke  and  fire  of  the  battle  for  a  Union  man,  fired  upon 
him.  He  was  terribly  wounded  ;  but  lived  on  for  several 
days,  full  of  hope  to  the  very  last  that  he  should  yet  be 
ible  to  take  his  place  again  in  the  battle  field. 

When  Lee  heard  that  Jackson  had  lost  his  left  arm  he 
wrote  to  him,  "You  have  lost  your  left  arm  ;  but  I,  in  los 
ing  you,  have  lost  my  right  arm." 

Indeed,  the  loss  of  Stonewall  Jackson  was  a  death  blow 
to  Lee,  and  to  the  Confederate  cause.  Gaining  ten  battles 


124  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

could  not  make  up  for  it.  Jackson,  sturdy  old  soldier  that 
he  was,  believing  fully  in  the  Confederate  side,  loving  his 
State  flag  with  all  his  heart,  was  indeed  the  General  of  the 
Confederates.  Wherever  he  was,  rallying  his  men,  there 
was  sure  to  be  victory.  Powerful,  honest,  brave  soldier 
that  he  was,  it  seems  a  pity  that  his  life  should  have  been 
lost  in  lighting  for  a  wrong  cause. 


OF   ^TONEWALL  JACKSON. 

Stonewall  Jackson's  victories  in  the  Valley  had  won  him 
great  renown.  Everybody  was  anxious  to  see  him,  but  he 
was  so  retiring  in  his  habits  that  he  shunned  the  public  gaze. 
His  dress  was  generally  so  shabby  that  many  did  not  know 
him,  even  when  they  saw  him  on  his  old  sorrel  horse. 
Once,  about  the  time  he  joined  Lee's  army,  he  was  riding 
with  some  of  his  officers  through  a  field  of  oats.  The  owner 
ran  after  them  in  a  rage,  demanding  Jackson's  name,  that 
he  might  report  him  at  headquarters. 

"Jackson  is  my  name,  sir,"  replied  the  general. 

"  What  Jackson  ?  "  inquired  the  farmer. 

"General  Jackson." 

"  What !  Stonewall  Jackson  1  "  exclaimed  the  man  in 
astonishment. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


125 


"That  is  what  they  call  me,"  replied  Jackson. 
"General,"  said  the  man,  taking  oft*  his  hat,  "ride  ever 
my  whole  field.     Do  whatever  you  like  with  it,  sir." 


PATTJLE    OF    {-[ETTY^BURQ. 

We  now  come  to  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg.  It  is  the  battle 
of  which  you  will  hear,  I  think, 
more  than  all  the  rest  put  to 
gether.  There  is  a  writer  who 
has  written  a  book  about  the 
fifteen  greatest  battles  in  the 
history  of  the  whole  world  ;  and 
he  has  called  this  battle  of 
Gettysburg  one  of  those  fifteen. 
Now,  it  is  not  that  this  battle 
was  of  itself  so  very  different 
from  any  other  battle  ;  it  was 
not  that  the  armies  were  so 

very  much  larger ;  not  that  the  soldiers  were  so  very 
much  braver,  or  the  generals  so  very  much  wiser.  Still  it 
is  spoken  of  as  the  battle  of  the  Civil  War, 


GEN,  MEADE. 


126 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  127 

Let  me  try  to  help  you  to  see  just  why,  then,  this  was 
0*tch  a,  great  battle. 

Lee  had  now  defeated  the  Union  soldiers  so  many  times 
that  he  began  to  think  his  own  army  was  squal  to  anything. 
And  well  he  might ;  for  had  he  not  defeated  McClellan  and 
Pope  and  Burnside  and  Hooker — four  of  the  greatest  gen 
erals  of  the  Union  army. 

"Now, "said  Lee,  "it  is  time  for  us  to  start  again  up 
through  Pennsylvania,  to  New  York,  and  on  to  Boston  if 
we  see  fit."  Again  the  Southerners  began  to  make  their 
threats  of  how  the  New  York  streets  should  soon  be  rivers 
of  blood,  and  how  proud  old  Boston  should  bow  before  the 
Confederate  army. 

The  people  of  Pennsylvania  were  filled  with  fright.  There 
was  the  great  Potomac  army,  made  up  of  the  bravest  of  the 
North ;  but  never  yet  had  a  General  been  found  in  whom 
the  people  trusted.  Nothing  but  defeat  after  defeat  had 
been  their  share.  Now,  indeed,  had  come  a  time  when  if 
ever  a  wise  leader  was  needed,  it  was  needed  now.  Lee 
was  setting  out  upon  his  march  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
North  !  What  if  no  one  could  stop  him  !  What  if  he  went 
on  and  on,  burning  the  towns  as  he  passed  and  taking  the 
people  prisoners  !  When  would  he  stop  !  What  would  be 
the  result ! 

Suppose,  children,  a  great  fire  should  start  in  the  fields 
and  forest  outside  your  town,  and  come  leaping  on,  burn- 


128  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

ing  the  grass,  the  bushes,  the  trees,  the  fences — everything 
in  its  track,  until  it  reached  the  rows  of  houses  just  on  the 
edges  of  your  town.  Now  suppose  the  flames  were  no 
redder,  the  fire  no  hotter,  the  smoke  no  blacker  than 
when  it  all  came  rolling  over  the  hills  and  across  the  fields. 
Still,  can't  you  see  why  just  here  you  would  be  more  fright 
ened,  why  the  firemen  would  work  harder  than  ever,  why 
the  peril,  the  danger,  would  be  greater  than  at  any  time 
before  ?  Not  that  the  fire  is  any  wilder,  but  because 
it  had  reached  that  point,  where,  if  it  isn't  conquered 
at  once  and  there,  the  whole  town  will  be  lost. 

This  is  just  the  condition  the  North  was  in  at  the  time  of 
this  battle  of  Gettysburg.  Gettysburg  was  like  the  rows  of 
houses  along  the  edges  of  -the  town.  Lee's  fire  had  come 
on  and  on,  sweeping  everything  before  it  up  to  just  this 
point.  He  was  now  upon  the  border-land  of  the  North. 
A  battle  was  at  hand  !  He  must  not  be  allowed  to  come 
one  step  farther  !  "  If  we  only  had  a  leader  ! "  cried 
the  people.  "If  we  only  had  a  leader!"  cried  the 
soldiers.  And  a  leader  came.  Hooker  and  another  General 
had  a  quarrel  just  about  this  time  over  some  war  question  ; 
Hooker  threw  up  the  command,  and  Gen.  Meade  was  put 
in  his  place.  Meade,  with  new  forces  from  the  North, 
started  on  in  pursuit  of  Lee. 

When  Lee  found  that  so  large  an  army  was  at  his  heels, 
he  thought  the  best  thing  he  could  do  would  be  to  stand 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  129 

still,  and  let  Meade  overtake  him.  A  battle  was  sure  to 
come  sooner  or  later,  and  Lee  was  wise  enough  to  know 
that  the  sooner  it  came,  the  better;  for  in  case  of  his  own 
defeat,  he  would  not  be  far  from  his  own  part  of  the  coun 
try,  and  therefore  not  far  from  help. 

So  it  happened  that  Meade  came  upon  Lee  at  Gettys 
burg.  Gettysburg  was  a  pretty  little  village,  nestling  down 
among  the  hills;  its  people  so  quiet  and  peaceful — its 
farms  so  broad  and  green  —  doesn't  it  seem  a  shame  to  fill 
this  beautiful  valley  with  the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  fire 
and  smoke  of  battle  ? 

The  battle  began  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  July. 
For  two  days  it  seemed  as  if  again  Lee  was  to  win ;  but  on 
the  third  day  the  tide  turned.  More  than  forty  thousand 
men  lay  dead  and  wounded  on  the  field.  At  the  close  of 
this  third  day,  Lee  began  to  draw  away  his  forces.  Lee 
was  at  last  defeated.  And  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  same 
day  that  Grant's  men  were  cheering  within  the  walls  of 
Vicksburg,  Lee's  army,  what  there  was  left  of  it,  was 
marching  away  towards  the  South,  broken,  discouraged,, 
defeated  ;  and  the  North  once  more  was  saved. 


130  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


JOHN   puRN5 :    JENNY   Y/ADE. 

Most  of  the  people  of  Gettysburg  left  their  homes  on  the 
approach  of  the  Confederates,  but  among  the  citizens  was 
one  old  man  named  John  Burns,  a  veteran  of  the  war  of 
1812,  who  had  no  notion  of  running  away.  When  he 
heard  that  the  enemy  was  marching  on  the  town,  he  took 
down  his  old  State  musket  and  began  running  bullets. 

"  What  are  going  to  do  with  those  bullets  ? "  asked  his 
wife,  who  had  anxiously  watched  his  movements. 

"Oh, "replied  he,  "I  thought  some  of  the  boys  might 
want  the  old  gun,  and  I'm  getting  it  ready  for  them." 

When  the  Union  troops  passed  through  the  streets,  he 
seized  his  gun  and  started  out. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  called  the  old  lady  after  him. 

"  Going  to  see  what's  going  on,"  he  answered. 

Going  to  a  Wisconsin  regiment,  he  asked  the  men  if  he 
might  join  them.  They  gave  him  three  rousing  cheers  and 
told  him  to  fall  in.  A  rifle  was  given  him  in  place  of  his  old 
gun,  and  the  old  man  fought  bravely  in  the  first  day's  fight, 
and  received  three  wounds.  When  the  Union  troops  fell 
back,  he  was  left  with  the  other  wounded  on  the  battle 
field,  where  he  was  found  by  the  Confederates.  Being  in 
citizen's  dress,  he  knew  they  would  shoot  him  if  they  found 
out  that  he  had  been  fighting  against  them,  so  when  they 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  131 

said  to  him,  "  Old  man,  what  are  you  doing  here  ?  "  he  replied  : 

"I  am  lying  here  wounded,  as  you  see." 

"But  what  business  had  you  here,  and  who  wounded 
you,  our  troops  or  yours?  " 

"  I  don't  know  who  wounded  me  ;  I  only  know  that  I  air 
wounded  and  in  a  bad  fix." 

"Well,  what  were  you  doing  here?  What  business  had 
you  here  on  the  field  in  battle  time  ?  " 

He  told  them  he  was  going  home  across  the  fields,  and 
got  caught  in  the  scrape  before  he  knew  it.  They  asked 
him  where  he  lived,  and  carried  him  home  and  left  him 
there ;  they  suspected  him,  for  they  asked  him  many  more 
questions ;  but  old  Burns  stuck  to  his  story,  and  they 
finally  left  him. 

There  was  a  heroine  as  well  as  a  hero  among  the  people 
of  Gettysburg.  Before  the  battle,  Jenny  Wade  was  bak 
ing  bread  for  the  Union  soldiers.  She  was  in  a  house 
within  range  of  the  guns.  When  the  Confederates  drove 
the  Union  troops  through  the  town,  and  forced  them  to 
take  refuge  on  Cemetery  Hill,  they  ordered  her  to  leave  * 

But  she  refused  and  kept  at  her  work  even  while  the  bat 
tle  was  going  on.  While  busy  with  her  baking  a  Minie 
ball  killed  her  almost  instantly.  She  was  laid  in  a  coffin 
which  had  been  prepared  for  a  Confederate  officer,  slain 
about  the  same  time,  and  now  lies  on  Cemetery  Hill,  where 
the  battle  raged  hottest  that  day. 


132  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


«PRAFTINQ." 

How  many  Northern  men  had  already  fallen  on  the  battle 
field,  do  you  suppose?  I  am  sure  I  don't  know  ;  and  you 
would  have  no  idea  of  what  the  number  meant,  if  I  could 
give  it  to  you.  More  men,  than  all  the  people  you  ever 
saw  in  all  your  lives,  children.  If  you  were  to  count  every 
man  and  every  woman,  every  boy  and  every  girl  in  your 
city,  all  the  people  you  ever  saw  on  the  cars,  all  the  people 
you  ever  saw  in  the  stores  at  Christmas  time,  or  at  the 
beach  in  the  summer  time  —  if  you  were  to  count  them 
everyone,  even  then  you  wouldn't  have,  I  think,  more  than 
a  handful  compared  with  the  thousands  and  thousands  of 
Northern  men  who  had  gone  to  join  the  army. 

And  for  two  long  years  they  had  been  fighting,  with  no 
success  of  much  importance  until  the  taking  of  Vicksburg 
and  the  driving  back  of  Lee  from  Gettysburg. 

Do  you  wonder,  then,  that  at  the  beginning  of  this  third 
year  of  the  war,  there  were  so  few  men  left  in  the  North, 
and  many  of  those  so  discouraged  that  Lincoln  could  no 
longer  depend  upon  volunteers.  Do  not  forget,  children, 
that  up  to  this  time,  all  these  brave  men  had  joined  the 
army  of  their  own  free  will.  They  need  not  have  gone 
had  they  not  wanted  to — nobody  had  made  them  go .  They 
lad  gone  bravely,  because  they  thought  it  was  right,  and 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  ^3 

because  they  so  loved  their  country  that  they  were  willing 
to  give  up  friends,  home,  family  —  everything,  and,  die,  if 
need  be  for  their  Flag. 

But  now,  in  this  third  year  of  the  war,  the  President  was 
forced  to  "  draft "  these  northern  men  —  that  is ,  he  had  to 
say  to  each  town,  you  must  send  so  many  men. 

This  draft  was  made  as  mild  as  possible.  No  men  over 
forty-five  years  of  age  were  drafted,  and  no  boys  under 
eighteen.  No  son  who  had  a  widowed  mother  depending 
upon  him,  nor  a  father  who  had  motherless  children.  You 
see,  every  attempt  was  made  not  to  be  unjust  or  cruel  in 
this  drafting. 

There  was  in  the  North,  at  this  time,  a  party  who  called 
themselves  the  peace  party.  They  were  tired  of  the  war, 
had  lost  their  courage  by  these  two  long  years  of  defeat, 
and  said  the  best  thing  that  could  be  done  was  to  declare 
peace,  and  let  the  Confederate  States  do  as  they  pleased. 
This  sounds  all  very  well ;  but  I  am  sure  even  you  children 
can  see  that  it  was  too  late  to  talk  that  way  then,  and  it 
was  by  far  too  early  to  say  to  the  South,  "  You  have  beaten 
us  ;  we  give  up  the  struggle." 

These  "  peace-party  "  men,  managed  to  stir  up  a  good 
deal  of  anger  among  the  low,  ignorant  classes  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  a  terrible  riot  followed.  On  the  day  the 
"drafting"  began  in  that  city,  these  low  people  formed 
themselves  into  a  mob  —  as  they  had  done  once  before  per- 


134  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

haps  you  remember  —  and,  half  drunk,  armed  with  clubs 
and  knives,  they  surged  up  and  down  the  streets,  killing 
policemen,  stabbing  and  trampling  upon  black  men  and 
women  and  children,  burning  their  bodies,  or  dragging  them 
through  the  streets.  Houses  were  entered,  stores  were 
robbed,  and  buildings  burned. 

For  three  whole  days,  this  horrible  riot  went  on  —  till, 
at  last,  a  band  of  soldiers  arrived.  Then  the  mob,  cowards, 
as  such  people  are,  slunk  away  to  their  dens  and  their  grog 
shops,  and  the  riot,  one  of  the  most  terrible  and  most  dis 
graceful  events  of  the  war,  was  at  an  end. 


ATTACK   ON   €HARLE?TON. 

From  the  very  beginning  everyone  knew  that  if  Richmond 
and  Charleston  could  be  taken,  and  the  Mississippi  be 
freed  from  the  control  of  the  Confederates,  the  war  would 
be  at  an  end.  The  Mississippi  was  already  free,  and  it 
seemed  high  time  that  something  be  done  towards  taking 
Richmond  and  Charleston. 

Charleston  is  a  sea-port  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina. 
It  has  a  fine  harbor,  just  outside  of  Avhich  are  many  small 
islands.  The  Confederates  knew  this  was  one  of  their 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  135 

strong-holds,  and  they  had  taken  great  pains,  therefore,  to 
guard  it.  On  each  of  these  little  islands  was  a  fort ; 
and  right  in  the  middle  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  stood 
old  Fort  Sumter,  its  Confederate  flag  flying,  as  proud  and 
grand  as  you  please.  This  fort,  you  remember,  had  beer: 
taken  by  the  Confederates  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
war. 

You  can  see  how  impossible  it  would  be  to  enter  that 
harbor,  with  all  its  forts  ready  to  aim  their  guns  upon  any 
vessel  that  should  dare  attempt  it.  Indeed,  one  might 
as  well  have  tried  to  enter  a  hornet's  nest  as  to  enter  this 
harbor  with  any  common  kind  of  vessels. 

It  has  always  been  a  wonder  to  me  that  after  that  little 
Yankee  cheese-box  did  such  wonderful  work,  there  weren't 
twenty  more  of  them  built  and  sent  straight  down  to  this 
harbor.  But  all  this  time  nothing  of  very  much  importance 
had  been  done,  and  Charleston  had  good  reason  to  suppose 
that  it  would  not  be  taken. 

Early  in  this  year  of  1863,  an  attempt  was  made  to  enter 
this  haibor.  Commodore  Dupont,  with  five  gun-boats  and 
nine  "  Monitors,"  steamed  in  between  two  of  these  islands, 
and  began  pouring  their  fire  upon  Fort  Sumter.  But  with 
all  these  forts  filled  with  soldiers  and  guns  as  they  were 
now,  it  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  attack  was  a 
failure.  Even  the  nine  little  Monitors  steamed  back  out  of 
the  harbor  as  fast  as  ever  they  could,  while  the  Charleston 


136  AMERICAX  HISTORY  STORIES. 

people  from  the  tops  of  their  houses  looked  on  with  delight 
at  the  whole  proceeding.  They  were  sure  their  harbor 
could  not  be  taken  now  ! 

Later,  another  attack  upon  the  city  was  made.  This 
time  with  double  forces.  While  a  fleet  was  to  attack  them 
from  the  waterside,  land  forces  were  to  attack  them  from 
the  rear.  On  Morris  Island  was  Fort  Wagner,  one  of  the 
strongest  of  the  Charleston  forts.  Here  a  force  of  two 
thousand  landed,  and  quietly  creeping  toward  the  fort,  made 
an  attack  upon  it.  They  were  driven  back;  and,  hiding  in 
the  swamps,  waited  for  more  troops  to  come.  A  few  days 
later,  another  attack  was  made.  This  time,  six  regiments 
went  against  the  fort  —  among  them  this  first  colored  regi 
ment,  with  brave  Robert  Shaw  as  its  leader. 

"Now,  my  good  men,"  said  he  to  his  colored  soldiers, 
"  now  has  come  a  time  for  you  to  prove  that  freedom  is 
worth  the  price  we  pay  for  it." 

On  the  half-run  these  regiments  advanced.  Out  came  a 
a  volume  of  deadly  fire  upon  them  from  the  fort.  On  they 
pressed,  leaping  the  ditches,  until  at  last,  scaling  the  walls, 
the  "  Stars  and  Stripes  "  were  placed  upon  the  ramparts.  But 
only  for  a  second  did  they  stand  ;  the  storming  column  of 
men  fell  back,  dead  ;  and  into  the  ditch  below,  fell,  too,  the 
flag. 

Colonel  Shaw  had  fallen  close  under  the  walls  ;  and,  when 
the  Union  soldiers  had  all  been  driven  back,  and  the  Con- 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  137 

federates  came  out  to  bury  the  dead,  they  found  his  body 
covered  over  by  the  dead  bodies  of  his  brave  colored 
soldiers  whom  he  had  loved  so  well. 

The  Confederates  boasted  that  they  had  "  buried  him  in  a 
ditch  under  his  own  niggers  ;  "  but  no  ditch  was  deep  enough 
to  bury  the  memory  of  this  brave  young  hero. 

This  unfortunate  attack  had  proved  that  Fort  Wagner 
was  not  to  be  taken  in  this  manner.  The  only  way  now  was 
to  try  to  bombard  the  fort.  But  where  should  they  set  their 
cannon,  you  will  ask?  Surely  not  in  the  water,  in  front  of 
the  fort ;  and  it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  think  of  set 
ting  up  cannon  in  such  a  swamp  as  that  in  the  rear.  In  a 
swamp,  where,  before  their  eyes,  many  a  workman  had 
sunk  out  of  sight  in  the  slimy  mud,  seemed  hardly  a  place 
to  plant  a  cannon.* 

Still,  this  they  tried  to  do.  Night  after  night  they 
worked,  digging  here,  and  piling  up  there,  until  at  last 
they  had  advanced  close  upon  the  fort.  Here  they  drove 
piles  one  on  top  of  the  other,  until  a  place  was  made  so  firm 
and  strong,  that  a  cannon  could  stand  with  safety.  Upon 
this  firm  floor,  they  built  ramparts,  and  setup  their  cannon. 

The  soldiers  called  this  their  "swamp  angel."  Bombard 
ment  began,  and  on  the  8th  of  September  this  plucky  little 
band  of  workers  marched  into  the  fort  and  set  up  the  Union 
flag.  One  fort  in  Charleston  harbor  was  ours  ;  one  step 
had  been  taken  towards  entering  the  city. 


138  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


Out  in  Kentucky  were  bands  of  horsemen  called  "  guer 
illas."  One  of  their  chiefs,  John  Morgan,  had  made  his 
name  a  terror  to  loyal  people. 

During  this  year  of  the  war,  he  planned  a  raid  into 
neighboring  States,  which  was  worse  than  any  he  had  ever 
before  attempted.  Crossing  the  Cumberland  river  with  his 
two  thousand  men,  he  marched  to  a  little  encampment  of 
two  hundred  Union  soldiers. 

"  Surrender  !  "  cried  Morgan,  riding  up  to  the  camp. 

"If  it  were  not  the  Fourth  of  July,"  said  an  officer, 
coolly,  "we  might  think  about  it;  but  Union  men  never 
surrender  on  their  nation's  birthday."  And  turning  to  his 
men,  he  ordered  an  attack  on  Morgan's  men.  So  fierce  and 
quick  was  the  attack  that,  in  spite  of  their  numbers,  Mor 
gan  thought  best  to  ride  away  as  fast  as  he  could  ride. 

Morgan  then  went  on  to  a  little  fort  commanded  by  Col. 
Hanson.  Here,  too,  Morgan  was  met  with  a  volley  from 
the  little  band  within.  In  this,  Morgan's  brother  was  killed. 
Then  Morgan,  wild  with  fury,  set  fire  to  the  little  fort,  and 
Hanson  was  forced  to  surrender. 

On  went  Morgan  from  town  to  town,  and  from  village  to 
village,  stealing,  burning,  destroying  the  crops,  tearing  up 
railroads  and  cutting  telegraph  wires,  wherever  he  went. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  139 

But  this  could  not  go  on  forever.  When  he  had  gone  up 
in  this  way  to  Ohio,  the  people  began  to  think  it  was  time 
that  something  should  be  done.  Troops  were  raised  and 
sent  against  him,  and  when  he  was  all  ready  to  cross  over 
Into  Virginia  to  join  Lee's  army,  he  found  himself  hemmed 
In  by  Union  soldiers.  He  was  made  to  give  up  his  arms 
and  be  led  away  a  prisoner. 

He  and  his  men  were  taken  to  a  prison,  and  there,  ah 
Morgan  himself  said  afterwards,  they  were  shaved  and 
washed  and  scrubbed,  and  put  into  their  cells  by  a 
"  nigger." 

There  was  another  guerilla  raid  after  Morgan's  capture. 
This  one  was  led  by  a  ruffian  named  Quantrell.  He  went 
o^er  into  Kansas  and  fell  upon  the  town  of  Lawrence,  the 
favorite  town  of  "  free  state  "  people,  since  the  days  of  John 
Brown. 

It  was  a  pretty  little  village,  with  its  churches  and  schooL 
houses ;  lying  there  so  peaceful  and  quiet  on  this  Sabbath 
morning ! 

Into  this  town  rode  the  ruffian  band,  Quantrell  at  its 
lead.  This  was  a  most  brutal  and  cowardly  attack.  Worse 
than  Morgan's  even  ;  for  his  had  been  upon  soldiers  usually. 
This  was  upon  a  quiet  little  village  of  unarmed  men  and 
women.  The  ruffians  burned  the  houses,  robbed  the  stores, 
killed  men,  women  and  children.  It  was  a  disgraceful 
affair,  a  cowardly,  mean  attack  upon  defenceless  people. 


140  AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES. 

I  am  glad,  however,  that  this  was  not  done  by  any  order 
from  the  Confederate  officers  or  the  Confederate  govern 
ment.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  done  by  this  rough 
band  of  men,  merely  for  the  sake  of  plunder,  and  for  theii 
own  amusement,  if  doing  such  things  can  be  amusement. 


IN   THE    Y ALLEY  OF   d-UCKAMAUQA. 

The  only  stronghold  now  left  to  the  Confederates  in  the 
West  Avas  Chattanooga.  They  had  been  driven  from  place 
to  place  by  the  Union  army,  from  Kentucky,  through  Ten 
nessee,  until  they  are  now  on  the  very  border  of  Georgia. 

You  remember,  in  the  first  stories  of  this  war,  you  were 
told  that  there  were  many  Unionists  in  Tennessee  ;  and  that 
it  is  believed  that  the  State  would  never  have  seceded  had 
the  Unionists  been  allowed  to  speak  in  the  convention 
which  was  held  there. 

You  can  imagine,  then,  the  delight  of  these  Tennessee 
Unionists,  when  Gen.  Burnside  marched  into  one  of  their 
largest  cities,  and  planted  there  the  Union  flag. 

It  had  been  a  long  time  since  they  had  seen  the  good  old 
Stars  and  Stripes,  and  it  is  said  that  many  a  one  cried  for 
joy  when  once  more  they  saw  the  "  red,  white  and  blue.'* 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  141 

On  every  side,  the  people  crowded  around  Burnside  and 
his  men,  offering  them  food  and  drink  —  many  of  them  rob 
bing  their  own  poor  homes,  that  they  might  bring  some 
thing  to  the  Union  soldiers. 

Meantime,  Rosecrans,  our  Union  general,  followed  Bragg, 
the  Confederate  general,  on  to  Chattanooga,  a  little  tcnvru 
lying  in  a  sort  of  gateway  between  the  mountains,  and  very 
nearly  on  the  border  line  between  Tennessee  and  Georgia. 

Both  Bragg  and  Rosecrans  knew  that  here  would  be  a 
final  battle,  which  would  decide  who  should  hold  Tennessee 
—  the  Confederates  or  the  Unionists.  Bragg,  therefore, 
had  sent  for  help  to  all  the  other  generals  round  about ; 
and  now  he  had  an  army  far  outnumbering  the  Union 
army. 

A  terrible  battle  was  fought  here  in  this  beautiful  valley 
of  Chickamauga,  in  which  our  army  was  sadly  defeated. 
Rosecrans  retreated,  leaving  16,000  dead  and  wounded  upon 
the  field. 

Rosecrans,  although  he  was  a  brave  general,  and  had 
been  very  successful  before,  was  blamed  for  having  lost 
*:his  battle,  and  General  Thomas  was  put  in  command. 

Grant,  the  quiet  general  who  smoked  so  "much  and  talked 
so  little,  was  now  in  command  of  all  the  Western  forces. 
He  came  to  Chattanooga  now  to  see  for  himself  how  mat 
ters  stood.  Before  he  could  go  to  Thomas,  he  telegraphed, 
"Hold  Chattanooga."  The  reply  that  Thomas  sent  will 


142  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

show  you  somewhat  of  the  firm  character  of  the  man.     "I 
•will  hold  it  or  starve." 


JOHNNY  CLEM. 

Johnny  Clem  was  an  Ohio  hoy,  twelve  years  old.  At 
the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  Johnny  was  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fight.  Three  bullets  went  through  his  cap,  but  Johnny 
didn't  care  for  that. 

After  the  battle,  when  every  one  was  hurrying  to  and 
fro,  Johnny  became  separated  from  his  comrades,  and  was 
running,  gun  in  hand,  across  an  open  field. 

A  Confederate  officer,  seeing  him,  sprang  upon  his  horse 
and  rushed  after  him. 

"  Stop  !  you  little  Yank  !  "  called  the  Colonel. 

Johnny,  seeing  that  the  Colonel  was  sure  to  overtake 
him,  halted,  faced  around  to  meet  the  Colonel,  and  set  his 
gun  ready  to  shoot. 

"  You  are  my  prisoner,  young  chap,"  said  the  Colonel  as 
he  rode  up. 

But  instantly  Johnny  drew  up  his  gun  and  fired.  The 
colonel  fell  dead,  and  Johnny  ran  on  to  join  his  comrades. 

Johnny,  for  this  deed,  was  made  a  sergeant,  and  was  put 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  143 

on  duty  at  headquarters.  He  must  have  been  a  very  odd- 
looking  little  sergeant,  I  think,  dressed  in  a  full  sized 
man's  uniform.  But  perhaps  he  did  have  a  uniform  that 
fitted  him  after  that ;  and  very  likely  he  made  a  very 
spruce-looking  sergeant. 


IN    THE     £!uDUD£." 

Thomas's  army  had  now  grown  quite  large.  Sherman 
had  joined  him,  and  Hooker  had  joined  him  —  both  able 
generals,  and  both  in  command  of  brave  soldiers. 

Bragg's  army  lay  on  Missionary  Ridge  and  on  Lookout 
Mountain.  They  had  enjoyed  their  position  up  there 
greatly.  Those  on  Lookout  Mountain  could  look  down 
upon  the  Union  soldiers,  and,  with  their  field  glasses,  tell 
every  move  they  made. 

This  was  all  very  well  in  pleasant  weather,  under  a  cloud 
less  sky ;  but  there  came  a  day,  so  "  misty  moisty  "  that 
the  Unionists  could  not  look  up  the  mountain,  neither  could 
the  Confederates  look  down. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  mountain  with  its  summit  all  lost  to 
sight  in  a  big  cloud  of  mist  and  rain  ?  The  little  boys  and 
girls  who  have  lived  all  their  lives  close  to  the  beautifuJ 


144  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

hills,  have  seen  this  hundreds  of  times.     It  is  nothing  new 

o 

to  them  ;  but  I  hope  they  will  never  grow  to  be  so  used  to 
it  that  they  think  it  not  worth  noticing.  It  is,  I  almost 
think,  the  most  beautiful  sight  in  nature.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  first  mountain  I  ever  saw.  It  was  away  down 
in  Maine,  up  close  to  the  New  Hampshire  line.  As  our 
train  steamed  out  of  the  forests  round  a  curve,  we  came  all 
at  once  upon  a  broad  clear  place ,  with  the  mountains  straight 
ahead.  It  was  a  heavy,  cloudy  "dog-day"  in  August;  — 
one  minute  it  would  be  dark  and  rainy,  with  big  black 
clouds  overhead,  and  the  next  minute,  perhaps,  the  sun 
would  be  shining  out  from  the  rifts  in  the  very  blackest  of 
the  clouds.  It  was  in  one  of  these  sunshiny  minutes  that  I 
caught  this  first  glimpse  of  the  mountains.  On  one  of 
them,  settled  way  down  half-way  to  its  base,  was  a  black, 
black  cloud.  Above  this  cloud,  the  mountain  peak  stood 
out  bright  and  clear,  in  the  sunshine.  On  the  side  of  the 
mountains,  in  the  cloud,  was  a  rift.  Slowly  this  opened, 
letting  in  the  sun-light,  and  showing  a  little  white  cottage 
nestling  there  among  the  trees.  Then  it  closed  again, 
and  nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  the  black  circle  of  cloud. 
The  light  from  the  top  slowly  died  away,  the  rain  fell,  and 
all  was  dark  again.  For  a  few  minutes  I  felt  dazed;  it 
seemed  as  if  I  had  been  dreaming ;  indeed,  it  seemed 
almost  as  if  I  ought  to  rub  niy  eyes  to  see  if  I  really  were 
not  half  asleep. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  145 

Now,  it  was  just  such  a  day  as  this,  I  fancy,  that  the 
Battle  of  Lookout  Mountain,  or,  as  we  call  it,  the  "Battle 
in  the  Clouds,"  took  place. 

Hooker  started  up  the  mountain  to  attack  Bragg's  force. 
It  must  have  been  a  strange  sight  from  the  valley  to  watch 
these  men  go  up,  up,  higher  and  higher,  until  they  were 
lost  to  sight  in  the  mountain  mist. 

It  was  a  strange  sight  to  Bragg's  army,  too,  I  imagine, 
when,  on  the  other  side  of  the  mist,  these  blue-coats  sud 
denly  came  into  view. 

We  often  hear  people  say,  "  Why,  where  did  you  come 
from  ?  Did  you  drop  from  the  clouds  ?  "  I  never  heard 
that  Bragg  said  this  to  his  unexpected  visitors,  but  I'm  sure 
he  was  surprised  enough  to  have  said  it. 

Grant,  from  a  hill  near  by,  watched  the  troops  climbing 
up  the  mountain  side  until  they  were  lost  in  the  mist. 
After  that,  now  and  then,  the  clouds  would  break  away,  as 
if  to  give  the  watcher  a  peep  at  the  battle  going  on.  But 
little  use  was  that  after  all,  for  no  one  could  tell  which  side 
was  winning.  It  was  an  anxious  time  indeed.  At  last, 
out  burst  the  gray-coats  from  the  cloud ;  down  the  moun 
tain,  pell-mell  over  the  river  they  went  —  the  blue-coats 
close  at  their  heels.  "The  gray-coats  are  running!  The 
gray-coats  are  running  !  The  Union  soldiers  are  driving 
them  down  the  mountain  !  " 

The  gray-coats  were  indeed  running ;  and  they  did  not 


146  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

stop  until  they  were  safely  over  the  river,  and  had  joined 
their  comrades  on  Missionary  Ridge. 

Night  had  now  fallen,  and  Hooker  must  wait  until  morn 
ing  to  follow  them  farther.  When  morning  came,  it  was 
found  that  the  enemy  had  destroyed  the  bridge,  and  were 
now  centered  on  Missionary  Ridge. 

Sherman  advanced  first  upon  them,  and  had  a  sharp  fight 
of  it  for  eight  or  nine  hours.  Then  Sheridan  came  to  his 
aid.  Again  they  charged  up  the  mountain  side,  and  again 
the  enemy  fled  into  the  valley  below.  Now  Lookout  Moun 
tain,  Missionary  Ridge  (so  called  because  there  had  once 
been  an  Indian  mission  school  on  its  brow) ,  and  Chatta 
nooga  Valley,  all  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Union  soldiers. 

On  the  following  morning,  again  Sherman  and  Hooker 
set  out  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  enemy.  The  contest  for 
Tennessee  was  now  over, — the  Confederates  were  indeed 
driven  beyond  its  limits,  and  far  into  Georgia. 

Quite  a  difference,  children,  between  the  quick,  active 
following  up  of  battle  after  battle,  under  these  generals, 
and  the  slow,  crawling  movements  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  under  McClellan. 

"We  don't  propose,"  these  generals  used  to  say,  "to 
give  the  enemy  time  to  get  rested  and  fed  —  and  so  ready 
to  fight  us  again  the  next  day.  No  !  we  are  upon  them  at 
once  —  before  they  have  time  to  get  back  their  breath  from 
running." 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  147 

JJIBBY   PRISON. 

I  wish  there  were  no  need  of  my  saying  anything  to  you 
children  about  the  horrible  life  of  our  soldiers  in  this 
Southern  prison.  If  not  telling  it  to  you  would  make  it 
any  less  a  part  of  the  history  of  this  war,  I  would  gladly 
leave  it  out  of  our  stories ;  but  it  is  a  part  of  it,  and 
one  view  of  the  war  would  be  wholly  lost  to  you  if  I 
were  not  to  tell  you  of  these  "prison  pens,"  as  they  were 
called. 

When  any  of  the  enemy  are  captured  in  a  battle,  they 
are,  as  you  know,  called  "prisoners  of  war."  We  say,  in 
a  certain  battle,  so  many  soldiers  were  killed,  so  many 
wounded,  and  so  many  taken  prisoners. 

In  the  city  of  Richmond,  that  capital  of  the  Confederates, 
which  months  and  months  ago  some  of  our  Union  generals 
ought  to  have  "taken  prisoner,"  —  in  this  city  of  Rich 
mond  stood  the  "  Libby  Prison." 

It  was  a  large  brick  building,  which,  before  the  war,  had 
been  used  as  a  storehouse.  It  was  large,  to  be  sure  ;  but 
no  building  is  very  large  when  you  think  of  packing 
thousands  and  thousands  of  men  into  it. 

I  am  afraid  these  men,  packed  into  this  prison  like  cattle 
into  a  freight  car,  suffered  more  than  you  or  I  can  imagine 
from  tilth  and  bad  air,  and  hunger  and  starvation.  When 
this  building  was  full,  prisoners  were  confined  on  a  small 


148  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

island  in  the  James  River,  called  Belle  Isle,  where  a  kind 
of  camp  was  made,  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  earth  and  by 
ditches.  It  is  said  that  the  prisoners  were  penned  up  there 
like  sheep,  without  any  shelter  even  in  winter,  and  that 
many  were  frozen  to  death.  It  is  also  said  that  all  the  pris 
oners  were  given  poor  food,  and  that  they  were  starved  by 
the  Confederates  so  as  to  make  them  unfit  for  further  ser 
vice.  Southern  writers  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  these 
stories  are  untrue  ;  that  the  prisoners  on  Belle  Isle  were 
furnished  with  tents  like  those  of  the  soldiers  who  guarded 
them ;  and  that  the  food  furnished  to  them  and  to  those  in 
Libby  Prison  was  the  same  as  the  rations  of  their  soldiers 
in  the  field.  They  also  say  that  the  healthfulness  of  the 
place  and  the  good  care  taken  of  the  prisoners  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  out  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  prisoners 
confined  on  Belle  Isle,  only  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  died 
between  June,  1862,  and  February,  1865,  or  about  five 
each  month. 

Whether  this  charge  was  true  or  not,  we  do  not  know  ;  but 
it  was  believed  to  be  true  then.  In  the  early  part  of  1864, 
there  was  an  attempt  made  by  Gen.  Kilpatrick  and  Col. 
Dahlgren,  to  free  these  prisoners.  It  was  an  unfortunate 
sort  of  a  plan  —  one  that  did  more  harm  than  good.  With 
a  small  band  of  mounted  soldiers  they  started  on  a  raid  to 
Richmond.  They  tore  up  railroads,  cut  telegraph  wires, 
and  did  all  the  mischief  they  could.  When  Kilpatrick  was 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  149 

within  three  and  a  half  miles  of  the  city,  he  halted,  expect 
ing  to  hear  Dahlgren's  signal  from  the  other  side.  But  he 
waited  in  vain.  Dahlgren  had  met  only  with  misfortunes  on 
his  march,  and  was  at  that  moment  lying  dead  in  the  forests 
not  far  distant. 

There  was  great  excitement  over  this  affair  throughout 
the  country.  The  Confederates  declared  that  papers  were 
found  on  Dahlgren's  body,  showing  a  plot  to  free  the  Union 
soldiers,  and  then  with  their  aid,  to  burn  the  city  and  to  kill 
President  Davis. 

The  Unionists  declared  that  this  was  all  a  lie,  made  up  by 
the  Confederates  to  excuse  them  for  treating  Dahlgren's 
dead  body  as  brutally  as  it  is  said  it  was  treated  when  found 
by  the  Confederates  in  the  forest.  * 

How  much  or  how  little  was  true  on  either  side,  we 
cannot  judge  from  what  was  said  about  it  at  that  time. 
During  a  war  like  this,  we  should  hardly  expect  to  find  the 
people  very  just  in  their  judgments  of  each  other.  The 
*  golden  rule  "  cannot  live  in  war  time  ;  and  when  that  is 
trampled  under  foot,  and  hate  gets  the  upper  hand,  the  good 
angels  of  peace  and  truth  and  justice  go  away  in  sorrow,  I 
fear,  and  leave  the  field  to  the  bad  angels  alone. 


150  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


JRAMP  !  JRAMP  I   JRAMP 


In  the  prison-cell  I  sit,  thinking,  mother  dear,  of  you, 

And  our  bright  and  happy  home  so  far  away, 
And  the  tears  they  fill  my  eyes,  spite  of  all  that  I  can  do, 

Though  I  try  to  cheer  my  comrades  and  be  gay. 
Chorus. —  Tramp,  tramp,  tramp,  the  boys  are  marching, 

Cheer  up,  comrades,  they  will  come  ; 
And   beneath   the  starry  flag  we  shall  breathe  the  ai? 

again 
Of  the  freeland  in  our  own  beloved  home. 

In  the  battle-front  we  stood  when  their  fiercest  charge  they  made, 
And  they  swept  us  off,  a  hundred  men  or  more  ; 

But  before  we  reached  their  lines  they  were  beaten  back  dismayed, 
And  we  heard  the  cry  of  vict'ry  o'er  and  o'er. 
Chorus. —  Tramp,  tramp,  etc. 

So  within  the  prison-cell  we  are  waiting  for  the  day 

That  shall  come  to  open  wide  the  iron  door. 
And  the  hollow  eye  grows  bright,  and  the  poor  heart  almost  gay. 

As  we  think  of  seeing  home  and  friends  once  more. 
Chorus. —  Tramp,  tramp,  etc. 


YIRQINIA. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  governor  of  South  Caro 
lina  had  said  to  his  people,  "In  this  State  we  may  as  well  go 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  151 

ahead  with  our  cotton  and  tobacco  planting  ;  for  if  there  is 
a  war  the  battles  will  be  fought,  most  of  them,  up  there  in 
Old  Virginia  on  the  border  line." 

This  speech  of  Governor  Pickens  had  come  true.  As  we 
know,  the  deadliest  warfare  had  been  carried  on  in  the  "  Old 
Dominion  State,"  as  it  is  called. 


QN   TO   RICHMOND  ! 

This  was  the  war-cry  for  1864.  On  to  Richmond  !  had 
been  the  cry  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  ever  since  the 
war  began ;  but,  as  we  know,  that  army  had  never  suc 
ceeded  in  getting  there. 

Now  the  Army  of  the  West,  having  swept  the  enemy  all  out 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  over  into  Georgia,  set  up  as 
their  cry,  "  On  to  Atlanta  !" 

Grant,  during  this  time  had  come  to  be  spoken  of  in  the 
papers  as  "  that  General  in  the  West  who  talks  little,  but 
does  much." 


152  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

"I  should  like  to  talk  with  that  little  Western  General," 
said  Lincoln.  "He  seems  to  be  the  sort  of  a  man  to  DO." 
And  so  it  came  about  that  in  the  spring  of  1864  Grant  was 
made  Lieutenant-general  of  the  United  States  armies,  and 
called  to  take  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Grant  came.  He  knew  that  it  was  no  easy  task  he  had 
before  him ;  but  he  knew ,  also ,  that  this  wretched  war 
could  be  brought  to  an  end  speedily  if  only  some  one  was 
wise  enough  to  know  the  way. 

After  looking  over  the  ground,  Grant  said,  "Our  armies 
have  been  acting  like  balky  horses  —  never  pulling  together. 
Now  I  propose  to  keep  close  at  Lee's  heels.  I'll  hammer 
and  hammer  at  him  until  he  is  all  worn  out." 

Having  visited  all  the  armies  to  know  just  what  sort  of 
soldiers,  and  what  sort  of  officers  he  had  to  deal  with,  on 
the  3d  of  May,  1864,  Grant  started  out  to  « hammer"  Lee. 
At  nearly  the  same  time  Lee  started  out.  The  armies  met 
at  a  place  called  "The  Wilderness."  A  terrible  battle  fol 
lowed, —  one  of  the  bloodiest  of  the  war.  Grant  had  begun 
iis  "hammering."  All  day  long  the  armies  fought,  and 
when  darkness  came,  fell  back,  tired  indeed;  still  neither 
side  was  ready  to  yield.  During  the  night  aid  came  to  Lee  : 
but,  at  the  same  time,  Burnside  came  to  the  aid  of  Grant. 
Lee  planned  to  make  an  attack  upon  Grant's  army  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  ;  Grant  also  had  planned  to  make 
an  attack  upon  Lee's  army  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  153 

Another  day  of  terrible  slaughter  followed.  Again  night 
fell,  leaving  two  bruised  and  broken  armies,  neither  willing 
to  admit  itself  defeated. 

After  such  a  battle  as  this  had  been  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  had  been  in  the  habit  of  falling  back  ;  so,  when  the 
order  came  from  Grant  to  break  up  camp,  the  army  sup 
posed  they  were  to  fall  back  as  usual.  But  that  was  not 
Grant's  way.  Although  he  had  not  defeated  Lee,  Grant 
knew  that  he  had  greatly  shattered  his  forces.  He  there 
fore  proposed  to  go  on  —  the  quicker  the  better. 

When  it  was  understood  that  Grant  intended  to  go  on, 
the  soldiers,  tired  as  they  were  from  the  long  battle,  sent  up 
such  a  chorus  of  shouts,  that  you  w^ould  have  thought  the 
very  skies  would  have  fallen. 

I  wonder  what  Lee  thought  when  he  heard  those  cheers. 
Surely  it  didn't  sound  as  if  the  army  was  preparing  to  slink 
away  like  whipped  dogs. 

On  the  army  went,  with  faces  toward  Richmond.  "Rich 
mond,  Richmond,  Richmond,"  was  all  Grant  seemed  to 
to  think  of.  If  an  officer  asked,  "What  for  to-morrow, 
general?"  he  said,  "Richmond."  If  an  officer  came  to  him 
full  of  hope  and  eager  to  go  on,  Grant  gave  him  a 
good  hearty  handshake,  and  said,  "Richmond,  my  man  !" 
If  an  officer  came  discouraged  and  doubting,  Grant  still  said, 
"Richmond." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Grant  sent  the  telegram  to  Lin- 


154  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

coin  which  became  so  famous  :  "I propose  to  fight  it  out  on 
this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer.'" 

On  the  2d  of  June  another  terrible  battle  was  fought'  at 
Cold  Harbor.  Lee,  who  was  now  no  longer  strong  enough 
to  make  an  attack,  fell  back  towards  Richmond. 

After  this  battle,  Grant  decided  to  take  his  army  across 
the  river,  and  find  the  weakest  point  for  attack  upon  the 
enemy's  forces. 

He  formed  a  plan  of  attack  on  Petersburg,  a  place  only  a 
few  miles  from  Richmond.  As  soon  as  Lee  knew  what  his 
plans  were  to  be,  he  poured  his  army  into  the  city  to  defend 
it,  and  made  the  fortifications  doubly  strong. 

Grant  made  one  attack  upon  it,  but  it  was  a  sad  failure. 
He  did  not,  however,  retreat,  but  settled  down  before  the 
city,  determined  to  wait  for  another  chance. 

Meantime  Burnside's  soldiers  set  to  work  digging  out 
an  underground  tunnel  to  one  of  the  strongest  forts  of  the 
city.  For  a  whole  month  they  worked,  planning  to  under 
mine  it  and  blow  it  up  with  gunpowder.  On  the  30th 
of  July  the  mine  was  exploded.  A  terrible  roar  was  the 
first  warning  to  the  people  in  the  city.  Stones,  guns,  and 
pieces  of  cannon  were  thrown  high  in  the  air.  The  earth 
shook  as  from  an  earthquake. 

When  it  was  over,  a  great  hole  like  the  crater  of  a  vol 
cano  was  seen  in  the  very  middle  of  the  defences.  Now 
came  the  order  to  "  charge  !  "  But  so  slowly  could  they 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  155 

advance  over  the  ruins  and  heaps  of  rubbish,  that  before 
they  were  upon  the  defences  the  Confederates  had  rallied 
from  the  shock,  and  Avere  ready  to  fight  like  madmen. 
The  crater  became  to  the  Union  soldiers  a  "  pit  of  death.'' 
The  great  pit  was  filled  with  human  bodies,  black  and  white  ; 
..ncn,  trying  to  climb  from  the  pit,  were  driven  back  with 
muskets  and  clubs.  It  was  a  scene  of  horror ;  and,  as 
Grant  himself  said,  "a  needlessly  miserable  affair." 

After  this,  Grant  did  little  more  during  the  fall  and  early 
winter  than  to  hold  what  he  had  gained.  All  this  time 
Sherman  had  been  steadily  "inarching  through  Georgia," 
and  on  towards  Kichmond  from  the  South.  Everywhere 
the  enemy  had  retreated  before  his  brave  army,  and  Grant 
was  holding  Lee  firmly  in  his  grasp  at  Petersburg. 

When  January  of  1865  dawned,  the  Southern  Confeder 
ates  knew  their  end  was  at  hand.  Grant,  with  his  persist 
ent  "  hammering,"  and  Sherman,  with  his  brilliant  march 
ing,  had  indeed  drawn  their  snares  close  around  the 
Confederate  Army. 

In  March,  Lee  resolved  to  make  one  more  attack  upon 
Grant's  forces .  He  hoped  to  get  through  Grant's  lines  and  join 
Johnston's  forces  in  North  Carolina.  Accordingly,  a  sud 
den  attack  was  made,  and  Fort  Steadman,  the  principal 
point  in  all  Grant's  defences  fell  into  Lee's  hands. 

Grant  was  indeed  surprised.  But  soon  the  Union  soldiers 
rallied,  and  the  Confederates  were  driven  back  with  great 
loss  of  men. 


156  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

Grant,  now  that  the  weather  was  growing  warm,  and  the 
muddy  bogs  and  roads  were  becoming  firm  and  dry,  sent 
word  to  Sheridan  that  he  had  now  made  up  his  mind  to  end 
this  matter.  Sheridan,  always  full  of  hope  and  bravery, 
and  quick  to  move,  hastened  to  Grant's  quarters  with  fresh 
troops  from  West  Virginia. 

Lee's  forces  were  stretched  in  a  circle  forty  miles  around 
Richmond ;  but  the  lines  were  very  thin,  and  Grant  made 
up  his  mind  that  it  was  time  to  attack  them.  Sending 
Sheridan  with  horsemen  to  a  place  called  "Five  Forks," 
where  Lee's  force  was  especially  weak,  he  himself  began 
his  "  hammering,"  as  he  still  called  it,  on  Petersburg. 

Lee  was  in  a  fix  !  He  needed  all  his  forces  at  Petersburg, 
and  he  needed  them  all  at  Five  Forks.  At  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  April  Fool's  Day,  the  charge  was  made. 

The  Confederates  fought  bravely  enough.  Had  their 
cause  been  a  just  one,  they  had  certainly  deserved  to  win. 
But  there  was  no  hope  !  Soon  they  were  in  full  flight, 
Sheridan's  cavalry  at  their  heels. 

Lee  was  a  brave,  wise  general.  He  was  a  hard  man  tc 
conquer,  but  he  knew  when  he  was  conquered.  "Leave 
Richmond  at  once, "he  telegraphed  to  Jefferson  Davis,  when 
his  soldiers  came  flying  into  Petersburg  with  the  news  of 
their  defeat. 

The  telegram  reached  Davis  the  following  morning,  Sun 
day,  and  was  carried  to  him  at  church.  Davis  rose  and 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  157 

quietly  left  the  church.  No  one  knew  what  the  telegram 
had  told  him ;  nor  did  he  intend  they  should  until  he  had 
satisfied  himself  there  was  no  help.  Not  until  afternoon 
did  he  allow  it  to  be  generally  known  that  the  city  was  lost. 
The  people  kneAV  a  battle  had  been  going  on ;  but  battles  as 
near  as  Richmond  had  gone  on  before  when  McClellan  was 
•11  command,  and  no  harm  had  come  to  their  city  from  it. 


Up  from  the  South,  at  break  of  day, 
Bringing  to  Winchester,  fresh  dismay, 
The  affrighted  air  with  a  shudder  bore, 
Like  a  herald  in  haste  to  the  chieftain's  door, 
The  terrible  grumble  and  rumble  and  roar, 
Telling  the  battle  was  on  once  more, 
And  Sheridan  twenty  miles  away. 

And  wider  still  those  billows  of  war 

Thundered  along  the  horizon's  bar, 

And  louder  yet  into  Winchester  rolled 

The  roar  of  that  red  sea,  uncontrolled, 

Making  the  blood  of  the  listener  cold 

As  he  thought  of  the  stake  in  that  fiery  fray, 

And  Sheridan  twenty  miles  away. 


158 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  159 

But  there  is  a  road  to  Winchester  town, 

A  good,  broad  highway,  leading  down ; 

And  there,  through  the  flush  of  the  morning  light, 

A  steed,  as  black  as  the  steeds  of  night, 

Was  seen  to  pass  as  with  eagle  flight ; 

As  if  he  knew  the  terrible  need, 

He  stretched  away  with  his  utmost  speed. 

Hill  rose  and  fell ;  but  his  heart  was  gay, 

With  Sheridan  fifteen  miles  away. 

Still  sprung  from  those  swift  hoofs,  thundering  south, 
The  dust,  like  the  smoke  from  the  cannon's  mouth, 
Or  the  trail  of  a  comet,  sweeping  faster  and  faster, 
Foreboding  to  traitors  the  doom  of  disaster ; 
The  heart  of  the  steed  and  the  heart  of  the  master 
Were  beating  like  prisoners  assaulting  their  walls, 
Impatient  to  be  where  the  battle-field  colls. 
Every  nerve  of  the  charger  was  strained  to  full  play, 
With  Sheriaan  only  ten  miles  away. 

Under  his  spurning  feet  the  road 

Like  an  arrowy  Alpine  river  flowed  ; 

And  the  landscape  sped  away  behind 

Like  an  ocean  flying  before  the  wind ; 

Swept  on  witn  his  wild  eyes  full  of  fire. 

And  the  steed,  like  a  bark  fed  with  furnace  fire. 

But  lo  !   he  is  nearing  his  heart's  desire  ; 

He  is  snuffing  the  smoke  of  the  roaring  fray, 

With  Sheridan  only  five  miles  away. 


160  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

The  first  that  the  General  saw  were  the  groups 
Of  stragglers,  and  then  the  retreating  troops. 
What  was  done  —  what  to  do  —  a  glance  told  him  both  ; 
.  Then  striking  his  spurs,  with  a  terrible  oath, 
He  dashed  down  the  line,  'mid  a  storm  of  huzzas, 
And  the  wave  of  retreat  checked  his  course  there,  because 
The  sight  of  the  master  compelled  it  to  pause. 
With  foam  and  with  dust  the  black  charger  was  gray. 
By  the  flash  of  his  eye,  and  his  red  nostril's  play, 
He  seemed  to  the  whole  great  army  to  say : 
u  I  have  brought  you  Sheridan,  all  the  way 
From  Winchester  down  to  save  you  the  day !  " 

Hurrah,  hurrah,  for  Sheridan  ! 

Hurrah,  hiK'rah,  for  horse  and  man  ! 

And  when  their  statues  are  placed  on  high, 

Under  the  dome  of  the  Union  sky  — 

The  American  soldier's  Temple  of  Fame, — 

There,  with  the  glorious  General's  name, 

Be  it  said  in  letters,  both  bold  and  bright : 

*'  Here  is  the  steed  that  saved  the  day 
By  carrying  Sheridan  into  the  fight, 

From  Winchester,  twenty  miles  away  !  " 

—  T.BUCHANAN  REED 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  161 

EVACUATION    OF   RICHMOND. 

A  Richmond  newspaper  at  that  time,  writing  of  this  day, 
said : 

"It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  before  the  people  realty 
began  to  know  that  their  city  was  indeed  lost  to  them. 
Wagons  on  the  streets  were  being  hastily  loaded  with  boxes, 
trunks,  etc.,  and  driven  to  the  Danville  depot.  .  .  .  Car 
riages  suddenly  arose  to  a  value  that  was  astounding ;  and 
ten,  fifteen,  and  even  a  hundred  dollars  was  offered  for  a 
carriage.  Suddenly,  as  if  by  magic,  the  streets  became 
filled  with  men,  walking  as  .though  for  a  wager,  and  behind 
them  excited  negroes  with  trunks,  bundles  and  luggage  of 
every  description.  All  over  the  city  it  was  the  same  — 
wagons,  trunks,  band-boxes,  and  their  owners,  filling  the 
streets.  The  banks  were  all  open,  and  people  were  as 
busy  as  bees  removing  their  money.  Hundreds  of  thous 
ands  of  dollars  of  paper  money  were  destroyed,  both  State 
und  Confederate.  -Night  came,  and  with  it  came  only  worse 
confusion.  There  was  no  sleep  for  human  eyes  in  Ricfr 
mond  that  night. 

"The  City  Council  had  met  in  the  evening  and  resolved 
to  destroy  all  the  liquor  in  the  city,  to  avoid  the  tempta 
tion  to  drink  at  such  a  time.  About  the  hour  of  midnight 

o 

the  work  commenced,  under  the  direction  of  citizens  in   all 
the  wards.     Hundreds  of  barrels  of  liquor  were  rolled  into 


102  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

the  streets  and  the  heads  knocked  in.  The  gutters  ran  with 
a  liquor  freshet,  and  the  fumes  filled  the  air.  Fine  cases 
of  bottled  liquors  were  tossed  into  the  street  from  third- 
story  windows  and  wrecked  into  a  thousand  pieces.  As 
the  work  progressed  some  straggling  soldiers,  retreating 
through  the  city,  managed  to  get  hold  of  a  quantity  of  the 
liquor.  From  that  moment  law  and  order  ceased  to  exist. 
Many  of  the  stores  were  robbed,  and  the  sidewalks  were 
covered  with  broken  glass,  where  the  thieves  had  smashed 
the  windows.  The  air  was  filled  with  wild  cries  of  distress 
or  the  yells  of  the  robbers. 

An  order  had  been  issued  from  Gen.  Ewell's  headquarters 
to  fire  the  four  principal  tobacco  ware-houses  in  the  city. 
The  ware-houses  were  fired.  The  rams  in  the  James  River 
were  blown  up.  The  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  another 
one  were  all  blown  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 

"The  bridges  leading  out  of  the  city  were  also  fired,  and 
were  soon  wrapped  in  flames. 

"Morning  broke  upon  a  scene  such  as  those  who  wit 
nessed  it  can  never  forget.  The  roar  of  an  immense  con 
flagration  sounded  in  their  ears  ,  tongues  of  flame  leaped 
from  street  to  street." 

By  seven  o'clock,  Monday  morning,  the  Confederate 
troops  were  out  of  the  city,  leaving  Richmond  in  flames. 
The  streets  were  still  filled  with  crowds  of  men  and  women, 
black  and  white,  loaded  down  with  their  plunder  from 
burning  houses  and  stores. 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  163 

Here  was  a  negro  with  a  bag  of  coffee  or  of  sugar  upon  hi*? 
back ;  another  with  a  bag  crammed  with  shoes  or  iiats ;  i> 
third  with  several  pieces  of  cotton  or  woollen  cloth  on  his 
head,  or  with  an  armful  of  ready-made  clothing ;  a  woman 
with  a  dozen  hoop-skirts ;  and  even  children  with  boxes 
of  thread,  ribbons,  and  other  small  goods.  The  Babel  of 
their  voices  was  almost  drowned  in  the  roar  of  the  flames 
and  the  explosion  of  gunpowder.  Capitol  Square  was 
crowded  with  frightened  women  and  children,  huddled 
among  piles  of  furniture  and  household  goods  saved  from 
their  burning  homes.  The  Confederate  rear-guard  had 
scarcely  left  when  a  cry  of  "  The  Yankees  !  the  Yankees  !  " 
•irose  in  Main  Street. 

In  marched  the  Union  troops.  As  they  entered  the  city, 
bursts  of  cheers  went  up  from  each  regiment.  "  Richmond 
was  taken  !  "  and  the  war  was  really  over. 

Lee  at  once  left  Petersburg,  hastening  with  his  forces 
towards  the  West.  Grant  followed  close  upon  him.  There 
was  little  need  to  pursue  them ;  for  so  broken  and  exhaus 
ted  were  they,  that  thousands  threw  down  their  arms,  too 
weak  and  ill  to  carry  them.  On  the  9th  of  April,  Grant  and 
Lee  met,  and  agreed  upon  the  terms  of  surrender.  It  did 
not  take  them  very  long.  The  "  Army  of  Virginia"  was  to 
disband  and  go  home,  each  man  promising  to  fight  no  more 
against  the  Union. 

Lee  rode  back  to  his   camp,  sad  and  silent.      His  men 


164 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


received  him  with  a  cheer.  He  looked  at  them  sorrowfully 
and  said,  "Men,  we  have  fought  the  war  together;  and  I 
have  done  the  best  I  could  for  you." 

On  the  12th  of  April,  the  Confederate  army  came  out  for 
its  last  parade.  Grant  generously  kept  his  troops  out  of 
iight,  while  Lee's  men  stacked  their  guns,  and  covered 
them  over  with  the  Confederate  Hags,  in  sign  of  surrender. 


GUN  PRACTICE. 


FROM  ATLANTA  TO  THE  SEA. 


165 


-^ — 9 — d- 


1.  Bring  the  good   old      bu  -  gle,boys!we  'Using  an-oth  -  er  song — 

2.  How  the   dark-ies   shout  -  ed  when  they  heard  the  joy-ful  sound! 


— FV 


Sing    it    with     a      spir  -  it      that  will  start  the  world  a  -  long — 
How  the    tur  -  keys  gob  -  bled  which  our  com-  mis  -  sa  -  ry  found  ! 


_ _ _ _ ^ ^ _ — | 


Sing    it      as      we     used     to   sing  it,     fif  -  ty    thous-and  strong, 
How  the  sweet  po  -    ta  -  toes   e  -  ven  start-ed     from  the  ground, 

CHORUS. 


— tX ^ ^ ^ —  L_y — I          — ^ —         — ^ 1 


While  we  were  marching  thro'  Georgia.          Hur-rah  !   hur-rah  !  We 


bring  the     ju   -   bi  -    lee!      Hur  -    rah!      1m  r  -    rah! 


the 


flag   that  makes  you  free  !      So      we     sang  the   cho-rus  from  At  - 


--  ^  --  fe 


4=t 


Ian-  ta    to    the  sea,  While  we  were  marching  thro' Georgia. 


166 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


N     TO     ATLANTA. 


When  Grant  took  com 
mand  of  the  United  States' 
armies,  he  put  William  T. 
Sherman  in  full  control  of 
the  "Army  of  the  West." 

On  the  day  following  the 
one  in  which  Grant  started 
out  for  Richmond,  Sherman 
began  his  march  toward  At 
lanta. 

"  On     to    Atlanta  !  "    was 
their  watch-word,  just  as  in 
Grant's  army,  "On  to  Rich 
mond  !"  Avas  the  watch-word. 

I  shall  not  try  to  tell  you  of  the  battle  after  battle  in 
Sherman's  Great  March.  At  Atlanta  the  enemy  drew  up 
all  their  forces,  determined  that  this  place  should  be  fought 
for  inch  by  inch.  It  was  a  hard,  close  fight,  both  generals 
squally  wise  aud  brave ;  but  after  several  days,  the  Con 
federate  general  gave  way,  and  Sherman  telegraphed  to 
Grant,  "Atlanta  is  ours,  and  fairly  won." 

Hood,  the  Confederate  general,  wild  over  the  loss  of 
Atlanta,  made  a  desperate  dash  back  towards  Nashville, 
hoping  to  cut  off  Sherman's  supplies. 


GEN.  WILLIAM  T.   SHERMAN- 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  167 

Sherman  was  brave  as  a  lion,  but  he  was  also  wise  as  a 
serpent.  He  saw  at  once  what  Hood  was  hoping  to  do. 
Gen.  Thomas,  called  by  his  men,  "Old  Reliable,"  saved  the 
city.  For  two  days  the  battle  raged  :  but  twilight  of  the 
second  day  saw  the  Confederates  in  full  retreat.  On  they 
went  throwing  away  as  they  ran,  their  guns,  knapsacks,  all 
that  would  hinder  their  flight.  Our  troops  pursued  till 
darkness  stopped  the  race.  Next  day  the  pursuit  was  con 
tinued.  Thomas  strongly  hoped  to  capture  all  Hood's 
army.  On  this  point  Hood  disappointed  him.  Gathering 
his  troops  together,  he  formed  now  an  orderly  retreat,  and 
crossed  the  Tennessee  with  what  was  left  of  his  army.  The 
flight  had  been  indeed  Bull  Run  over  again  ;  only  this  time 
the  Confederates  were  flying  and  the  Unionists  were  pur 
suing. 

Sherman  feeling  sure  that  Thomas  would  be  equal  to  any 
battle  with  Hood's  army,  had  kept  straight  on  with  his 
plan  of  marching  now  "from  Atlanta  to  the  sea." 

His  object  was  to  destroy  the  railroads,  and  cut  off  the 
supplies  of  food,  clothing,  powder  and  cannon  of  the  Con 
federate  army.  This  seems  almost  cruel ;  but  it  wasn't  half 
30  cruel,  in  reality,  as  it  would  have  been  to  let  the  war 
drag  on  for  many  months  more. 

Taking  only  twenty  days'  provisions,  Sherman  told  his 
men  they  must  find  their  living  in  the  country  over  which 
they  marched.  The  men  understood  what  their  General 


168  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

meant,  and  about  the  middle  of  November,  while  Grant  was 
holding  Lee's  army  in  Petersburg,  Sherman  started  across 
"from  Atlanta  to  the  Sea." 

Just  before  Christmas,  Sherman's  army  marched  into 
Savannah,  and  hoisted  "Old  Glory,"  as  they  called  their 
flag.  At  once  he  telegraphed  to  Lincoln,  "I  beg  to  pre 
sent  to  you  as  a  Christmas  present,  the  city  of  Savannah, 
with  one  hundred  and  fifty  guns,  plenty  of  powder,  and 
twenty-five  thousand  bales  of  cotton." 

After  a  long  rest,  which  Sherman's  army  so  greatly 
needed,  and  which  they  so  richly  deserved,  they  next 
moved  towards  Charleston.  The  North  stood  breathless 
when  word  came  that  Sherman  was  marching  towards 
Charleston.  Charleston  !  the  centre  of  the  whole  secession 
country  !  Charleston  !  the  city  that  was  said  to  be  un 
conquerable  ! 

But  Sherman  conquered  it,  and  once  more  the  Union  flag 
waved  over  old  Fort  Sumter. 

And  now  the  Union  Army  felt  their  journey  was  nearly 
over.  In  a  few  days  they  would  join  forces  with  Grant's 
own. 

Goldsboro'  was  the  next  place  to  fall  upon. 

H3re  Gen.  Joseph  Johnston  was  straining  every  nerve 
for  a  final  battle.  It  was  like  a  drowning  man  catching  at 
a  straw.  He  had  with  him,  Bragg  from  Wilmington,  Har- 
dee  from  Savannah,  Beauregard  from  Charleston,  and  Wade 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  169 

Hampton,  with  his  cavalry.  The  shattered  remnant  of 
Hood's  army  from  Nashville  had  joined  him. 

But  affairs  looked  dark  for  the  Southerners.  Their  army 
in  Tennessee  had  been  broken  up,  Lee  was  held  by  Grant 
in  Virginia :  Sherman  had  conquered  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina ;  if  he  now  joined  Grant,  Lee's  army  would  be 
captured.  The  only  hope  was  that  Johnston  might  defeat 
one  or  all  of  the  armies  marching  on  Goldsboro',  and  pre 
vent  their  junction  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  then 
go  north  and  help  Lee  drive  Grant  from  his  post  near  Rich 
mond.  It  was  a  desperate  last  chance,  and  might  be 
successful. 

A  bloody  battle  followed,  but  when  night  fell,  Sherman's 
soldiers  had  not  fallen  back  one  inch.  During  the  night 
several  fresh  divisions  had  come  and  joined  the  Union 
soldiers,  making  our  lines  now  too  strong  to  be  broken. 
Johnston  retreated  during  the  night  and  Goldsboro'  was 
won. 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  Johnston  surrendered  to 
Sherman,  knowing  that  since  Lee  had  surrendered  to 
Grant,  the  war  was  indeed  at  an  end.  Johnston  accord 
ingly  wrote  to  Sherman  asking  that  there  be  no  fu  ther 
bloodshed  between  their  soldiers,  and  offering  to  surrender 
his  whole  army. 


170  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 


Some  very  cruel  work  was  done  during  the  war  with 
torpedoes.  When  Richmond  was  evacuated,  the  troops 
were  sent  into  the  city  with  orders  to  move  very  carefully  ; 
for  it  was  reported  that  the  streets  had  been  filled  with  tor 
pedoes.  You  can  easily  imagine  what  the  explosion  of  one 
of  these  under  foot  would  do.  Fortunately,  however,  when 
the  Confederates  had  put  these  torpedoes  into  the  ground, 
they  had  marked  the  location  of  them  all  with  little  red 
flags,  that  they  themselves  might  know  where  not  to  step. 
In  the  rush  and  hurry  of  leaving  the  city,  these  flags  had 
been  entirely  forgotten.  It  was  very  fortunate  for  the 
Union  soldiers  that  they  had  been  left  standing  there,  warn 
ing  them  as  well  as  the  Confederates  where  not  to  step. 

Torpedoes  were  put  in  the  harbors,  too.  Did  you  ever  see 
a  three-tined  prong  attached  to  a  torpedo  in  the  water? 
The  prong  is  fastened  to  the  torpedo  in  such  a  way  that 
when  a  vessel  comes  sailing  along,  it  would  strike  against 
those  little  hooks.  That  would  move  the  lever  connected 
with  the  trigger  of  the  pistol  within,  and  a  fearful  explosion 
would  be  the  result.  Thousands  of  brave  men's  lives  have 
been  lost  in  this  cruel  way  ;  and  if  it  is  a  good  thing  to  kill 
off  thousands  of  men  and  blow  them  in  pieces,  then  torpe 
does  are,  I  suppose,  a  very  good  thing.  They  are  spoken 
of  as  one  of  the  improvements  of  modern  warfare.  What 
do  you  think,  boys? 


AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES.  171 


During  the  war  it  was  often  necessary  to  signal  from 
place  to  place. 

During  the  night,  signalling  was  done  by  torches,  dur 
ing  the  day,  by  flags. 

Suppose  there  were  two  signal  parties,  on  two  different 
mountains,  five  or  ten  miles  apart.  Suppose  there  is  a 
battle  going  on  near  one  signal  party,  or  a  bridge  has  been 
burned,  or  the  enemy  are  coming  near.  The  other  signal 
party  will  need  to  know  of  all  this.  So  first  of  all  the  flag 
man  sets  up  his  flag.  The  officer  gets  his  field  glass  in  posi 
tion,  and  watches  until  he  finds  that  the  signal  party  on  the 
other  mountain  has  seen  the  signal,  and  is  waiting  to  receive 
the  message. 

Now  the  flag-man  begins  to  signal.  He  waves  his  flag  to 
the  right,  or  the  left,  or  the  front. 

Suppose  to  the  right  means  1,  to  the  left  2,  in  front  3. 
Now,  if  the  flagman  should  dip  twice  to  the  right,  once  to 
the  left  and  once  in  front,  that  would  make  the  number 
1,123. 

When  the  officer  on  the  other  mountain  had  got  the 
whole  signal,  he  would  look  in  a  book  he  carries,  called  a 
"  signal  code."  and  learn  what  1,123  means.  Perhaps  he 
would  find  that  it  meant  "  railroad  bridge  burned,"  or  "  send 


172  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

us  troops  at  once,"  or  "  we  have  defeated  the  Confederates," 
or  "  Grant  is  only  five  miles  away. 

Of  course  these  books  have  to  be  kept  very  secret ;  and 
if  in  any  way  one  of  them  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  a  new  set  of  numbers  would  have  to  be  made  out, 
for  it  wouldn't  be  a  very  nice  thing  to  have  the  enemy  know 
what  the  signals  meant. 


JHE   V/ 


AR   i£   OVER. 


Picture  to  yourself  if  you  can,  the  joy  of  the  people  in 
the  North  when  the  news  of  these  surrenders  spread  over 
the  land  !  The  telegraphs  flashed  it  over  the  wires  from 
city  to  city  and  from  town  to  town,  until  the  news  reached 
the  lonely  homes  away  out  on  the  prairies  and  away  up  on 
the  mountains. 

Our  "Union  boys,"  the  "boys  in  blue  "  tossed  up  theii 
hats  for  joy.  Faces  in  the  homes  —  even  in  those  whose 
soldier  boys  would  never  come  back  to  them  —  shone  with 
thankfulness  that  this  cruel  war  was  over. 

But  nobody  was  happier  than  Lincoln  himself.  Wash 
ington  was  all  one  blaze  of  light  ;  fireworks  were  shooting, 
bonfires  were  blazing,  and  bands  were  playing. 


AMERICAN   HISTORY  STORIES.  173 

President  Lincoln  came  out  upon  the  balcony  of  the 
White  House,  and  asked  one  of  the  bands  to  play  the  tune 
of  "Dixie."  This  had  been  the  favorite  tune  of  the 
Confederates  all  through  the  war,  just  as  "John  Brown's 
Body  "  had  been  the  favorite  with  our  soldiers. 

"I  have  always  thought  Dixie  one  of  the  best  songs  I 
ever  knew.  Our  enemies  over  the  way  tried  to  make  it 
their  own ;  but  I  think  we  captured  it  with  the  rest ;  and 
I  now  ask  the  band  to  give  us  a  good  turn  on  it." 

This  was  Abraham  Lincoln's  last  public  speech. 

Next  evening,  the  14th  of  April,  the  president  went  to 
the  theatre  to  see  an  English  play,  called  "Our  American 
Cousin."  For  four  years  the  heavy  duties  of  his  great 
office,  the  sorrow  which  he  had  felt  at  the  horrors  of  the 
war,  had  made  an  evening  of  amusement  almost  impossible 
for  him. 

But  the  war  was  over  ;  he  could  lay  off  some  of  his  cares. 
There  was  now  to  be  a  little  time  for  laughter  and  enjoy 
ment  ;  a  holiday  for  the  nation  and  its  president.  So  Mr. 
Lincoln  went  to  the  theatre,  sitting  in  a  box  just  above  the 
stage.  About  half-past  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  as  the  play 
drew  near  its  close,  a  man  named  John  Wilkes  Booth, 
wrapped  closely  in  a  cloak,  entered  the  box.  He  came  up 
behind  the  president  and  shot  him  in  the  back  of  the  head. 
The  ball  entered  the  brain,  Lincoln's  head  drooped  forward, 
his  eyes  closed,  and  he  never  spoke  afterwards.  It  is  hoped 


174  AMERICAN  HISTORY  STORIES. 

that  he  felt  no  more  pain,  though  he  lingered  until  next 
morning,  and  then  quietly  passed  away. 

After  the  shot  the  murderer  with  the  cry,  "Thus  may  it  be 
always  with  tyrants, "leaped  over  the  box  railing  down  upon 
the  stage.  Rushing  hastily  through  the  frightened  actors, 
hardly  conscious  of  what  had  been  done,  he  escaped  through 
a  back  entrance,  mounted  a  horse  made  ready  for  him  at 
(he  theatre  door,  and  rode  rapidly  away. 

This  news  of  horror  so  quickly  following  that  of  joy, 
spread  over  the  country,  filling  it  with  gloom.  This  good, 
simple  man,  Abraham  Lincoln, —  this  gentleman  of  the 
people, —  had  won  to  himself  all  loyal  hearts.  His  face,  so 
full  of  pathos,  winning  in  spite  of  its  rugged  plainness,  his 
manly,  truthful  nature  ;  his  noble  humanity ;  had  gained 
him  the  regard  even  of  those  who  at  first  sneered  at  the 
"  vulgar  rail-splitter."  Across  the  ocean  in  England  where 
he  had  been  held  up  to  ridicule,  his  name  was  now  men 
tioned  with  reverence. 

The  assasin,  as  he  leaped  from  the  box  upon  the  stage, 
had  caught  his  foot  in  the  American  flag,  which  draped 
the  front  of  the  President's  box.  He  fell  forward  and 
broke  his  leg  in  the  fall.  A  party  was  at  once  sent  in 
pursuit  of  him.  On  the  21st  of  April  he  was  found  in  a  barn 
near  Fredericksburg.  Defiant  to  the  last,  he  stood  at  bay, 
like  a  hunted  wild  animal,  with  loaded  weapon,  prepared 
to  take  the  life  of  any  one  who  attempted  to  take  him  alive. 


AMERICAN    HISTORY  STORIES.  175 

The  bam  was  set  on  fire,  and,  as  he  attempted  to  escape, 
he  was  shot  at  by  one  of  those  in  pursuit,  and  so  captured. 
He  died  soon  after  from  the  effects  of  the  wound,  and  his 
body  was  buried  secretly. 

Andrew  Johnson,  the  vice-president  now  became  presi 
dent,  and  the  people  set  to  work  to  bring  the  country  back 
into  its  old  condition  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Since  then 
the  country  has  grown  very  rapidly,  and  we  are  to-day  the 
freest,  the  happiest,  the  richest,  the  best  nation,  I  hope  you 
all  think,  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 


Peace  shall  unite  us  again  and  forever, 

Though  thousands  lie  cold  in  the  graves  of  these   yars ; 
Those  who  survive  them  shall  never  prove,  never, 

False  to  the  flag  of  the  Stripes  and  the  Stars  1 


176     WHEN  JOHNNY  COMES  MARCHING  HOME. 


1.  AVhen  John  -  ny  comes  marching  home  a -gain,  Hnr  -  rah,     hnr- 

2.  The      old  church  bell  will   peal  with          joy,  Hur  -  rah,     hur- 


SOLO. 


--J\ — 


~l 1 M- 

fefe^NaEEiE 


CHORUS. 

^H  =fc=±:    rqpsSsn^q 

*— F* — ; — • — «— i       —  •-- 

=zt=  zzb=bl 1— 


rah  !    AVe  '11  give  him   a    heart  -  y    welcome  then, Hur  -  rah,      hur 
rah !       To    wel  -     come  home  our  dar-ling  boy,  Hnr  -  rah,      hur- 


SOLO. 

±3&=^-Ti==ir 


: N-r 


=t: 


- 


rahi        The  men    Avill        cheer,    the     boys     will   shout,  The 
rah!        The  vil  -  lage       lads       and     las   -   sies   say,      With 


CHORUS. 

-A 


la   -  dies,    they  will      all      turn  out,         And  we  '11   all        feel 
ro   -  ses     they  will     strew  the   way, 


:±= 


r 


gay       when      John  -  ny     comes   march  -  ing          home . 


BATTLE   HYMN   OF  THE   REPUBLIC.  177 

Words  by  Mrs.  HOWE.  Arr.  by  J.  W.  PADMUN. 


==5^==Kqp=S=   —A fs_   __fc 

^-^  \j          t,      +-• 


1.  Mine        eyes      have    seen 

2.  I     have    seen      Him      In 

-* fr-r^v 


th 


e     glo     -      ry       of 
the  watch  -  fires      of 


the 


IX i,-—...^ 1 


^Eg^^EgEEjgE^g 


com  -  ing   of    the  Lord  :  He     is  trampling  out  the  vintage  where  the 
hun-dred  circling  camps;  They  have  bnildcd  Him  an    al  -  tar    in    th-j 

r fr — !\ fr- 


grapes   of  wrath  are  stored  ;  He  hath  loosed  the  fateful  lightning  of    His 
even-ing  dews  and  damps ;  I   can  read  His  righteous  sentence  by  the 

^iJ^E^J^ 


D   »JJ       I 


V        V      V.:.    '-9    -\  b         I     "      I  I*    T    ~T 

ter  -   ri  -  ble  swift  sword  :  His    truth    is    marcb  *ig      on. 
dim    and  flar  -  ing  lamps :   His     day       is    md~    .i-ing      on. 


*±± 


-r~r-r-r 


BATTLE   HYMN   OF   THE    REPUBLIC. 


Glo     - 

"N 

Glo     - 

IS 

ry,     Hal    - 

J*       JL 

le   -    lu 

-       jah, 

j. 

£I\  • 

• 

m  • 

9           4  • 

»    r 

1    1  , 

>^ 

t  . 

£ 

m  • 

*           *  * 

i*    i    (^ 

0 

D       i 

L/     ; 

1 

b 

P 

P       b 

P 

r 

Glo  -  ry,  Glo  -  Ty,  Glo  -   ry,  Hal  -  le  -  lu     -      jali,        Glo   -    ry 

J. 


~w  *      -w-      -m-         ~w-      -w         -9-      -w-         -w-      -ex-  -Gf-  ~w-  1 1 

^=$=£=*=^E$=?=$^^:   E^E  pEEE^E 

_k^ fczK 1^: eL    ^        ^    br_      _r_  _t__ 


^fTT^-T     ^'    .    r    r    r 

Glo-  ry,  Hal-le  -  lu   -  jah!      And  we    are  marching      on. 

N  ^         S  ^        ^J  I  I  I 


==      = 


1 

3  He  has  sounded  forth  the  trumpet  that  shall  never  call  retreat ; 
He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  His  judgment-seat; 
Oh,  be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  Him!  be  jubilant,  my  feet! 

Our  God  is  marching  on.  — CHORUS  —  Glory,  etc. 

4  In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies  Christ  was  borne  across  the  sea, 
With  a  glory  in  His  bosom  that  transfigures  you  and  me ; 
As  He  died  to  make  men  holy,  let  us  die  to  make  men  free, 

While  God  is  marching  on. —  Cno::".s  —  Glory,  etc. 

HUMMING  BIRD. 


X 


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Young  Folks'  Library  of  Choice 
Literature. 


»/ 


.   /Ksop's  Fables.    (Illus.  bds.  90  pj>. ) 
.  Grimm's  'i'ales.    (Illus.  bds.  144  pp.)   .... 
.  American  History  Stories.    Vol.    I.  (Illus.  bds.  198  pp.) 
Vol.    II.    (Illus.  bds.  158  pp.) 
Vol.  III.  (Illus.  bds.  158  pp  ) 
"  "        Vol.   IV.  (Illus.  bds.  174  pp.) 

,  Story  of  Columbus.       Illus.  bds.  180  pp.) 
Stories  of  Industry.     Vol.    I.  (Illus.  bds.  172  pp.) 

Vol.  II.  (Illus.  bds.  176  pp.)     . 

Ethics:   Stories  for  Hoiiivi  and  School.   (Bds.  197  pp.) 
Little  Flower  Folks.  Vol.   I.  (Illus.  bds.  138  pp.) 

"  Vol.  II.  (Illus.  bds.  130  pp.)          .     . 

The  Great  West.   (Illus.  bds.  i  76  pp.)       .         . 
Cortes  and  Monte/urn  a.    (Illus.  bds.  100  pp.) 
Pi/arro;  or  the  Conquest  of  Peru.   (Illus.  bds.  128  pp.)    . 
Stories  of  Massachusetts.     (Illus.  bds.  348pp.) 
Geography  for  Your"  Folks.     (Illus.  bds.  136  pp.)       .     . 
Stor.land  of  Stars.     (Illus.  bds.  i6s  pp.) 
Stories  from  Animal  Land.   (Illus.  qto.  bds.  179  pp.)     .     . 
Our  Fatherland.    (Illus.  cloth,  160  pp.; 
Stories  of  Australasia.    (Illus.  bds.  220  pp. ) 
Stories    f  In- Ha.   (Illus.  bds.  200  pp;.      . 
Stories  from  Shakespeare.    Vol.  I.  (Illus.  cloth,  166  pp.)  . 
Vol.  II.    (Illus.  cloth.  1 56  pp.)   . 


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